I’m pretty sure I took on this project in April, or maybe March of this year. A friend of mine asked me if I would be interested in fixing a quilt for her. She brought it for me to look at and I thought I could do something with it. I had seen on a blog by Rhona Dort “Mostly about things I Create” other transformations of older quilts being made into useable ones. I figured it would be work, but interesting and possibly fun.

I took the quilt home and I “evaluated” it, wrote down every thing I thought it needed and shared the list with the owner. I think this quilt was made in the seventies, and possibly finished/added to in the eighties.

What I ended up doing was

• First I took the top and backing apart and discarded the batting. The batting was polyester and in half of the quilt it was doubled. There was hand quilting around each plate and in the centers. The borders had been sewn on as if the maker was doing a quilt-as-you-go type quilt. The seams were sewn together onto the batting with the backing underneath. There were three borders, much of which had sun damage. The maker also folded the edges together and whip stitched them to create the edging, there was no binding.
• The 20 blocks had been made by machine sewing the plates together, then hand appliquéd to the backgrounds. The background fabric was like a muslin, or just white cotton. It was stained and “aged” with a patina. Also, the maker had used a dark green/black fabric for plate blades that had bled into its neighbors and the backs. I carefully removed the fan blades from the backing, I felt a little bad about removing all those hand appliqué stitches. I found a few shattered and very worn blades, but most were in pretty good shape.
• I washed the quilt backing, also a muslin type, three times, to see if I could get it looking clean. I thought I could use it to replace the block backings, and keep the vintage look of the quilt top. The fabric definitely got cleaner, but the hand quilting stitches had left large holes and they didn’t close up. I also found a few paint spots on it :). I resorted to using Bella eggshell for the block backings. Oh, I forgot to mention that some of the blocks were 16″ and some were 16 ½” and some were a bit more off.
• I carefully hand washed the blades and pressed them. I reassembled the plates, replacing the broken, faded and bleeding blades as needed. I found the perfect yellow vintage calico to replace some of the center pieces. Most of the replacement blades are from my 30’s fabric stash. I sewed them onto the block backing doing the centers first and then the plates on top. I used a blanket edge machine stitch with matching yellow thread for the centers and off white for the edges. It was difficult to keep the centers the same sizes, I think it had something to do with the way the circles stretched or the blades weren’t uniform in size. I was aiming for a 6″center though.
• Once I had all the blocks “fixed” I put them together and added three new borders, yellow, blue and pink/red.
• I decided to quilt it with the Gingham Posies pantograph. I used an eggshell colored polyester thread on top and a a similar color that blended with the backing (beige with tan cross hatches).
• The binding may match the backing, or I’ll go with a slightly tan.

I definitely underestimated how much time and effort this quilting project would be. I think I spent about 60 hours total, way more than the 12 or so I thought in the initial look-see. It did become a labor of love though, love for the craft, and admiration for the maker before me. It was interesting to discover the methods and compare them to todays ways. This quilt lasted a long time as it was, and I hope that it will live on to be useful again.

Be Kind.

Last night I finished the Ancients/Dragon quilting, just need to bind it now. Then I can get the Dresden plate quilt on the frame. I have been trying to pick between two quilting designs for it, a cabbage rose end to end or a gingham posy one. I have to attach the three borders first, so that’s on my to-do list for today.

They are similar, I think the posy one is cuter, but the roses are a bit more mature.

I thought I had a photo of a quilt with the gingham posy on it, but its on Instagram. This is NOT my quilt, but the gingham posy is quilted on it.

I finished the three blocks for A Ribbon Runs Through it BOM, from June, and started on the blocks for the sashings. Lots of three part HSTs, 192 and that’s only half of them. They finish at 2 ½ square, and there are six in each sash piece. This week had a lot of chain piecing, and squaring up. I think I need to sew the July blocks for the Reunion BOM, I can’t remember if I did or not. Just checked and I did, Yay! So many projects and so little time. I need to design a Star Wars quilt for a commission. I have a slew of fabric that was sent to me. It is mostly blue, grey, black and white, lots of storm troopers. This is a two sided quilt and I am leaning towards a medallion style pattern.

Last week I finished two baby quilt tops, used up two panels I had bought last year. I had just enough of the polka dot fabric to make them work. I tried to find more of it, but it is out of print, it was very adaptable to popular color ways. It has dots of green, orange, tan, blue, brown and yellow on a white background. I have a few more panels to make up, including two baby monthly charts that should be easy and quick.

Todays task is to sew those borders on the Dresden plate quilt.

Be Kind.

I finished up “The Ancients” dragon quilt top this week. It’s a kit by In the Beginning fabrics, I think it is a Jason Yenter design. Simple enough, no triangles, only mitered corners in the borders. I got the backing together, mounted on the frame, just waiting for the black batting to come.

I finished stitching the last, of twenty, Dresden plate block yesterday. I had been waiting on more fabric for it, as I ran out of Bella Eggshell. I am now waiting on the three border fabric I ordered from connecting threads. They had a sale on a line of fabric called General Store 3, which is mostly calicos and 30’s prints. I got 4 ½ yards at about 6.00 a yard, I splurged and got a Halloween themed layer cake too.

I am thinking of joining a Sew-a -Long at Ivory Spring using a pattern from the magazine Quilters World. It’s called A Pumpkin a Day by Wendy Sheppard, I may just be able to finally use up all the Halloween Figs scraps. It starts on August 3rd, and the PDF magazine can be purchased at Annies Crafts. The magazine also has the pattern for Jo Kramers Frolic Leftovers quilt. Frolic was a Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt from a few years ago. There were quite a few extra units made, because of the half blocks used and the color ways. I have them in a bin all ready to go for this quilt. I would like to get that quilt started this summer too.

I have made some progress on the Forever and Ever cross stitch piece. The Cardinals are done and the little house. I’d like to finish this in the next twenty days, as it is for a birthday present. I got a frame for it, I think its doable. I miss stitching on the Pilgrim though, I see it everyday, and I want to work on it.

In other news, the mother ship has landed in my back yard. Ugh, it needed to happen, as our septic tank is almost 60 years old. I am so glad I am not the one who has to dig the hole. Because of where we are, and how my back yard is made, it has to be hand dug. Four guys and their shovels, got halfway through yesterday. They’ll be back to finish on Monday.

Off to sew.

Be kind.

There is a lot of deconstruction going on around here. My bedroom is half way done, my yard is a blank slate and this quilt is in pieces. Once I got all the parts apart, I could wash the backing and really see what I had to work with. The dark green blades of the plates were bleeders, they had to go. Then the backing of each block was stained and dyed by those bleeds, I ended up removing all the plates from their backings. As I did so I felt a bit sad that I was taking apart this quilt. The plates are sewn together with a machine, with very tiny stitches. The center yellow leaves are hand appliquéd then the plates on top of them. I think two different people worked on the hand stitching, as there are differences in the stitches and sewing techniques. One is a bit more refined and steady, while the other seemed to be in a hurry. There are also repairs that were made, again by another person. The thread is in better shape than the fabrics, I have to be careful when I pick them apart. I wash them in a bucket of soapy water, and they are brighter after, I guess 50 years of dust and skin oil adds up. I will iron them and replace the blades that need it, there are 20 per fan. Some of the yellow leaves have holes and thin spots, I found some vintage calico to use in its place. I am waiting for a few yards of 200 count muslin to arrive, then I’ll sew the plates on 16″ blocks. Once I get them all together, we’ll decide on a border fabric. I am leaning towards green, but blue or pink might work too. I’m not sure about what the client likes, so we’ll see.

I finished the twin size Cat quilt and sent it out to the buyer, I hope she likes it. She also bought the larger full size one I made last year. They match in colors and pattern, but the twin is the “Hey diddle diddle” line and the full is the “Catkin” line. This buyer also sent me a quilt kit to make for her, its an In The Beginning pattern called “Dragons the Ancients”. I hope this quilt pattern works, I have done some from them in the past, and they needed a little tweaking.

I have a few quilts of my own I wanted to start this summer. I got a kit for a Jacqueline de Jonge quilt called Enchanted Stars. Its paper pieced and very colorful. I also got all the fabrics to do a Swordfish quilt from Judy Niemeyer, as I also have the pattern for it. Two monster paper foundation quilts, there just aren’t enough hours in the day.

I am posting this without photos, as it has been six days since I wrote it. The photos will come another day 🙂

Be Kind.

I spent most of the first day of summer sewing blocks for the commission quilt. It was a hot day here, so staying in was a good idea. Work on my house and yard are continuing at a good rate. My yard is a vast expanse of dirt and my bedroom now has windows and a door. I am having 12 tons of base rock delivered today, can you say dust? I am so glad that I am not the one who has to move it all.

Back to the quilting. I need to make 4 more blocks today, I think I can do that.

Four days later…

I have a finished quilt top. I ended up adding another row of blocks to make it truly twin sized. When I cut the borders, I realized that the fabric print was eight inches wide, not eight and a half. Damn, the corner blocks were already made at that point, they are 8 ½”. Striped spacer to the rescue! I really like the pop of color that it adds to the border of this top. The final size is 86″ x 56″ , its for a twin bed.

Other than the quilt top, I haven’t done much sewing on anything else. I need to get some more quilting done on the Mrs. Miller quilt. If I can get the quilting of the HSTs done then I can do the bottom borders. Then I’ll take it off the frame, stitch the Commissioned quilt, and re-mount the Miller quilt turned so I can do the side borders. Thats my plan for this weekend.

With all the quilt making going on I haven’t been stitching much on my Cardinal cross stitch piece. I really want to have it done by August, for a birthday present.

Yesterday I went to a fun sort of thrift shop. Its called Fab-Mo and it is a place to find fabrics and all kinds of things for making fabric art, clothes, quilts, and collages. I spent 30.00 and got a bunch of “needed” things. I had seen in their newsletter that they had gotten in a lot of heavy duty canvas, it was about 50 inches wide and at 3.00 a yard, I splurged and got two yards. I also got some nice webbing, a few notions, a large piece of fabric suitable for a backing, a few vintage calico fat quarters, AND a stamped cross stitch piece that was mounted on a small sized scroll frame. I was so excited by the $3.00 price tag that I didn’t look at the embroidery until I got it home. I’m not sure I’ll be finishing that one anytime soon. Before I left the shop, I asked about donations, and they do take them, then I started cleaning out my sewing room in my mind. Maybe later this summer, I am imagining a great clean-out of bins and books and patterns. I have often thought of selling things, but, after all the time and effort needed to photograph, post, sell and send an item, it really doesn’t end up profitable. For instance, I have upholstery fabric that I’ll never use, that would be one empty bin.

Be Kind.