While shopping at the antique mall, one of the things I’ve been noticing re-surge more and more are Victorian Crazy Quilts and all of their lovely styles and forms. Since I cannot begin to to…
“Thanks a Bunch” is my Marti Michell Mini Quilt that I’m sharing how to make as part of the Marti...
I usually don’t blog about myself or my experiences. I’m as shy online as I am in real life, so I sometimes break a sweat when I have to reveal. On rare occasions, however, I do like to go on about things I find important. Despite my current career of luxury in which I putz around on the internet and buy fabric by the bolt, I still consider myself an educator at heart and learning and teaching are a couple of things that I like to talk about. Quilts are another...
For those of you that make quilts or anything that needs a finished binding This video is for you I saw this video while I was surfing the web and am totally impressed with the application. I hope you enjoy watching and let me know what you think:)
Charming small antique quilts made just for dolls are treasured collectibles in their own right. Old ones are quite pricey, but some lovely ones are made today. Here is a group of doll quilts from Three Texas Collections. Many were made by friend Martha. The large wax doll is quilting on a precious top from tiny old civil war age squares. At her feet are little rugs made by Martha. To see more articles on making antique doll quilts, visit Maida .http://www.maidatoday.com/ A glorious link for more doll size quilts! These are true art. http://collectorwithaneedle.blogspot.com/
15 Vintage Quilts To Steal Your Heart Vintage quilts are truly an inspiration. So much care was taken with the perfection of each quilt. Stand back and admire their beauty with awe, especially know…
Calli writes: "I spent a weekend with friends and we enjoyed seeing a lovely antique collection of a friend's mother. I loved this quil...
I saw so many interesting quilts while we were traveling, that I ended up splitting my pictures into 4 posts! I love vintage quilts. I don’t feel a need to buy them all, bug I do enjoy taking…
Our 2013 finished with a truly delightful day as the Sisters were joined by friends Anne and Barb and travelled to Castlemaine where we had an early Christmas celebration with Corliss, Megan and Annabelle at Threadbear. Officially the shop was closed but tucked away in the classroom at the back, we joined together for a day of sewing, talking, laughter and lots of eating. It was also the day of the big reveal. Inspired by Kim and her sewing group over on Threadheads Unite, the Sisters and friends decided to accept the challenge from Ann and make a quilt in secret from History Repeated. Now some of the Sisters were very productive and arrived with completed quilts, most notably Sue who had not only hand-pieced but also hand quilted her version of the hourglass quilt. First up from Clare next Ann, using a medallion from Reproduction Fabrics as her centre Sue's hourglass blocks in muted shades of red, blue and brown Anne's Pyramids Then there were those who had finished piecing the tops together... Barb Walker Meghan Barb, using an applique medallion completed many years ago Merri ...others with a collection of blocks made... Di Deb and Corliss ...while others are still trying to decide which quilt to make! Megan Annabelle But wait, I don't have a photo for Kerry's efforts! Maybe it's because Kerry was in charge of the camera? So tell me Kerry, which quilt did you choose and how much has been completed> Not content with making us work hard through the year, Ann has come up with next year's challenge. How about a little something from the Poos Collection? As this challenge is a little more, well challenging, we have decided to allow ourselves two years to complete the quilt. Hmm, I wonder who will be the over achievers on this? Until next time................ Meghan
This blog features my original quilt designs and showcases the work being done in my classes. My teaching schedule will keep you informed of where I will be tutoring. I hope you enjoy your visit! I teach at the following stores: The Stitchers Cupboard, Camden; Hobbysew Kings Park; Lyn's Fine Needlework, Baulkham Hills; Jukejema Quilting Barn, Nowra and Post Office Patchwork, Glenbrook.
I LOVE contemporary quilts, but I have a lot of love and respect for the antique quilts out there. Some of those quilts, if done in modern fabrics, would be considered “contemporary” or maybe even “art” quilts. Some patterns are traditional; others are very creative and artistic in nature. Chicago had a great variety of antique quilts this year. I took pictures of some of them. “19th Century Folk Art” by Unknown Maker, c. 1800, 81” X 84 ½”. This quilt is hand pieced and appliquéd using a huge variety of natural dyed fabrics. I took a closeup so you could get a better look at the pieces and colors. It was really something! “Tree of Life Variation” by Unknown Quiltmaker, c. 1860, 74 ¾” X 73”. This quilt is hand pieced, appliquéd, and quilted. There is a lot of quilting on this quilt. The “Princess Feather Variation with Star Medallion” by Unknown Quiltmaker was FABULOUS! It is a HUGE quilt (especially for its age—but the year it was made was not listed); it is 115” X 129”. That is even big by today’s standards. The quilt is hand pieced, appliquéd, and quilted. The quilt was hung from its left side rather than from the top. It was hard to get the entire quilt in one picture because of its size and the positioning of the light pole. I did the best I could. Now, take a look at this close up. The quilting is spectacular. It is very organized and planned in the blocks of the quilt but very spontaneous in the border. If you look closely, you can make out a star/snowflake-looking quilting pattern towards the bottom left of the border. I didn't see another one like it on the quilt. You can also make out leaf shapes closer to the border top. It was just so interesting. This is a close up of the center medallion of this same quilt. I wanted you to check out the quilting in the appliqué pieces themselves. Also, take a look at how skinny the medallion points are. “Sunburst” by Unknown Quiltmaker, c. 1850, 77” X 80 ¾”. This quilt is hand pieced and hand quilted. “Flower Garden Star” by Unknown Quiltmaker, c. 1900, 80” X 94 ¼”. The medallion portion of this quilt contains fabrics c. 1830-1880. This possibly indicates a multi-generational quilt. The piecing of this quilt is by hand, and it is not quilted. Just try to imagine piecing all those hexagons by hand! “Birds and Grapes Applique” by Unknown Quiltmaker, 77” X 82”. This quilt is hand pieced, appliquéd, and quilted. I couldn’t get a full picture of this quilt because of the crowd, so I took a picture of a piece of it. I loved the birds the most anyway! These are the last of my pictures from this year’s Chicago International Quilt Festival. I have enjoyed sharing them with you. I hope you enjoyed seeing these antique quilts. Seeing them sure makes me appreciate all the tools and gadgets we have to use these days. Please leave me a comment and let me know if you liked seeing these quilts.
You do know how much I love traditional quilts. I have been following Linda Collins quilt journey through the reports in Quiltmania and thro...
WITH HOOK & NEEDLE ~cats~primitive rug hooking~quilts~
Donna Pyle had a pattern question.She's been restoring this quilt from Alabama. "I've just been given several quilts from a family I did a restoration for last year and one of the quilts is quite rem
Crazy quilts are my favorite quilts of all. I love them because you can use up all your favorite fabric scraps and you don’t need much of any one single fabric, as there usually are not alot…
At the recent 2013 Arizona Quilters' Guild Show , we enjoyed a lovely display of vintage hexagon quilts from years past, along with some mor...
This magnificent quilt has been made by Narelle Birchall. Narelle is an Australian member of my Yahoo BOM Group and has been posting her progress pics over there for us to all enjoy. I do believe th
Vandaag was ik met Henriëtte een dagje naar Veldhoven! Met een missie, want er moesten stofjes voor Henriëtte gezocht worden voor A boy's story, maar dan in de baby quilt versie. Zelf ben ik aardig voorzien van stofjes en met nog genoeg projecten onder handen had ik echt, echt geen stofjes nodig! Dus ging ik vooral voor de tentoonstelling! En zoals altijd zie je dan van alles waar je langs loopt en wat niet je smaak is, maar er hangen ook Prachtige Quilts! Inmiddels is de beurs afgelopen, dus kan ik met een gerust hart wat laten zien, ook leuk voor de mensen die Niet Gingen. Ik heb ruim 100 foto's gemaakt zag ik toen ik thuis kwam! De absolute topper vandaag voor mij... heel inspirerend! Prachtig werk van zandkleurige en bruine driehoekjes. Maar schijn bedriegt. Er zitten ook heel veel oker, rode, roze en blauwe driehoekjes in! Ik heb wel 15 foto's van deze bjoetie gemaakt! Een detail voor jullie... zucht... En dan deze witte quilt: Dat was precies wat ik ooit voor ogen had met mijn afgebroken witte quilt project! Toch maar lekker foto's van genomen, wie weet pak ik dit Ooit weer op! En dan de Buit, 1 schattig Insane F8je! En negen leuke oude stofjes (in bruin en zand, als mooie aanvulling op de mandjes, en ach, wat over is, kan toch ooit in zo'n mooie driehoekjesquilt?) Lekker gek zijn ze wel! Bij deze quilt ben ik trouwens ook lang stil blijven staan. Het ontwerp en kleurgebruik sprak me wel aan, en als je dichterbij kijkt... detail, dichterbij... wat een werk en dat met hetzelfde stofje! Een heel opvallende keuze, ik ben er dan ook nog niet uit wat ik van dit effect precies vind. En dan, last-but-not-least, deze Buit! Een prachtig, oud, broos en bijna-uit-elkaar-vallend-maar-oh-zo-mooi gekantklost topje. Of moest het een blousje worden en is het er nooit van gekomen? In elk geval, ik viel er als een blok voor. Al dat oude handwerk, prachtig, en dat voor een prikkie! Het mag mooi wezen aan het oude hangertje aan de buitenkant van onze kledingkast. Hopelijk ook wat inspiratie voor jullie allemaal! Liefs, Nathalie
Lucy Boston, that is! It is hard to believe that I have been at this for over a year and I have not started to lose interest! This is way...
From Garrison Keillor’s The Writer’s Alamac for October 29 I learned about folk artist and quilt maker, Harriet Powers. I had never heard of this woman or her quilts until today. I sa…
windwrinkle: Carpenter’s Square, c. 1895. Artist unknown. From the Quilts, Inc., Corporate Collection.
Life is full of surprises and delights - and our blog post about a few fun things is no exception. Don't miss out on this entertaining and uplifting read - perfect for a quick pick-me-up!
Yes, I've been working away this month, trying to finish a new quilt... and finish some old ones... and finish some blocks... and help a couple friends finish their work... phew! I'm almost out of breath! Except I'm not... because I relaxed at a guild retreat this past weekend, which explains why I'm late (again) posting on the first of the month. So here goes... a lot of different things, but I hope you enjoy them and learn at least one new thing. Let's get started! I co-chaired my guild's retreat (www.lakeviewquiltersguild.org) this past weekend and we had a great time working on projects and sharing friendship. Members of other guilds sometimes attend - and members of the Island Quilters Guild were working on their new raffle quilt. It was a beautiful Judy Niemeyer quilt, with phenomenal machine quilting done by Marcia Henry. It was a quilt that simply glowed as we oohed and aahed over it! And it is the perfect raffle quilt -- it will draw people to it, ready to open their wallets and buy some tickets. And here's a close-up of Marcia's wonderful quilting. Last Fall, I participated in a Secret Sister exchange, and gave my secret sister blocks each month for 3 months. At the retreat, she put them all together; take a look at JoAnn's quilt. Now, I want to make more of those blocks and put together a quilt for myself. I love how JoAnn set the blocks on point -- it's not a setting that most of us intuitively choose to use, and even if we do, we don't always use print fabrics in the setting triangles. Good job, JoAnn! One of the things that happens at retreats is you get to see others working on their projects - and they inspire everyone. Here's a quilt with baskets -- you can probably see how simple they were to assemble -- I love blocks like this! What is not obvious is that the basket handles were made of bias strips that were machine appliqued in place, making assembly even easier! My friend Mary Jo was working on this quilt.... ...while her friend was working on this set of pink baskets. I love the border print she plans to use: In the meantime, my friend Cynthia was assembling her triple four-patch blocks into a large bed-sized quilt. She had several leftover blocks, and a bunch of leftover four-patch squares. She gave them to me... and after I came home on Sunday, I started making blocks from the 4-patch squares and adding them to the set of finished blocks. I still have more 4-patches to assemble into blocks; when I'm done, all of these blocks will go into my guild's annual auction. I'm chairing it this year, so I'm always on the lookout for items to add to the auction, which funds many of our guild's monthly programs. While putting those blocks together, I also worked on my Block-of-the-Week blocks (but I'm making 7 of each block pattern, so it's really a block-of-the-day!). Here are four of the latest... and a stack of the remaining units. I like paper piecing, so I generally take every pieced block and draw up a paper foundation for it... you can see my stack has the pre-cut fabric and foundations, ready to sew together. I have all the remaining block-of-the-week blocks ready to sew, and just need to find the time to get them done. Don't you love how the same block can look so different based on fabric choices? Part of what I love about making all these blocks is the fact that they are chewing through my scrap pile! My guild's quilt show is coming up in May, so a lot of us are getting quilts finished or ready to be quilted. One of my friends travels a lot and knew she would not have time to quilt her quilt. I volunteered to quilt her quilt, as she's done plenty of favors for me. Here is Cynthia's round robin quilt -- I loved quilting this quilt, even though there wasn't a lot of opportunity to do anything fancy in the open areas, as there weren't any! I love this quilt -- how can 6 women, independently, do such wonderful designs and make such a gorgeous quilt? It happens! Here's a close-up of the quilt so you can see some of the quilting. I did diagonal cross-hatching in the area outside of the swag border, and straight-line quilting inside of the swag border. I love how that looks on the outside border of a quilt. I also finished quilting my own round robin quilt. What a lucky gal I am, to have such talented friends! Actually, they are talented, but mostly, I think that round robins inspire all of us to stretch ourselves to come up with exceptional additions. In this quilt, I did 1/2-inch diagonal cross-hatching in the interior border -- I love how "neat" it looks in a quilt! And here's a close-up of the outer border -- again, I used straight line quilting inside the swag border and 1-inch diagonal cross-hatching outside the swags. In a couple of months, I will post pictures of all of the finished quilts that were involved in this round robin series -- they will be in my guild's quilt show in May. Okay -- here's a picture of an antique quilt -- a Princess Feather quilt. When I first saw it, I knew I had to make one. It was just so bright and colorful! I started making this quilt about 7 years ago. It was always my "take-along" applique project until I finally finished the applique on it. Then it sat around for two years while I debated what borders or sashing to put on the quilt. I opted for no sashing and several plain border stripes, as I wanted a space where I could insert a wonderful quilted border design. The photo doesn't do the quilt justice -- you can see all the wrinkles and miss the dynamic look of the quilt in the photo, but all of this will look great once the quilt is quilted. I'll work on quilting this quilt sometime in the next month. Or two. No sense pushing myself too hard, right?! And here is the new block-of-the-month that I have been working on. I changed the design once I finished piecing four of a planned five feathered star blocks; after laying the quilt out on the floor with all of those pieced and applique blocks, it just looked way, way too busy. So... I removed the feathered star blocks and when I assemble this quilt, I will put some nifty quilting in the empty block areas below. I had to rearrange the blocks after I removed the feathered stars, which meant that I needed a ninth applique block -- that's it in the lower left corner. I still have a lot of applique left to do in the setting triangles. This quilt is going to be called Bed of Roses. Here's a close-up of what the setting triangles will look like -- this is the only one that I have finished appliquing, out of all of them. Sigh... so much to sew, so little time... Okay, now for a little departure and example of the process I use for designing and making quilts. Below is a picture of a quilt made by Serena Tucker in 1853, for her own marriage. The photo was in the book Quilts in Community: Ohio's Traditions -- 19th and 20th Century Quilts, Quiltmakers, and Traditions by Ricky Clark, George Kneper, and Ellice Ronsheim. In one of my bees, we decided to give ourselves a little challenge: take the tulip vase block in this quilt and reproduce it... in whatever format each person wanted: make it bigger, smaller, different colors, or whatever other modification came to mind. I love these kinds of challenges because I know I will see so many different thought processes at work. So what is my thought process? I thought you'd never ask! First, I drew a pattern of the block for the participating bee members. Take a look; it's a pretty simple 12-inch block. But then... I had to figure out what I wanted to do with my own version of this block. The first thing I did was to try out various combinations of colors, using Adobe Photoshop. Here's design using greens and reds and golds.... And here's another one, using a gradation of pink to red shades for the flowers.... I was drawn to this version because I felt like it was quite unique and with the right combination of fabrics for the vases, there would almost be a "glow" to the quilt when it was done. But I realized that with sixteen 12-inch blocks, I would have to do a LOT of applique and I would end up with just a 48-inch square quilt. Hmmm. You know I love applique but this might be a little bit of overkill! So I put my thinking cap on and decided that maybe I only wanted to make a four-block quilt -- less applique, right? And then I decided that I should consider fabric I had always wanted to use: cheddar and teal -- it was used often in quilts in the 1800s. So I made a mock-up of that fantasized version.... But... really, with only four 12-inch blocks, will I really be happy with a finished 24-inch square quilt? I like bed-sized quilts. Or at least large lap quilts. So I thought... hmmm... why not enlarge the pattern and make the blocks 36 inches square? Yes! That's the ticket! I put that little 12-inch pattern on my printer and enlarged it, bit by bit, in 16 different sections... so here's the 36-inch pattern, all taped together from the enlarged sections. Yeah - four of THESE babies will make a NICE sized quilt, once some outer borders are added! And hence... the birth of what I'm calling "Tucker's Tulips." It's 86 inches square - now we're talking! I hope you learned something by watching how my thought process worked. It always involves just a little bit of experimenting, tweaking, imagining, and trial-and-error before the final design pops out of nothingness! We had about ten gals each make their own version of the Serena Tucker blocks -- and I cannot wait to show you the results. The quilts will hang in my guild's quilt show in May - I'll post photos after that, and you won't believe the variety! Next month I hope to show you the finished Bed of Roses quilt... my fingers are crossed! And maybe something else will be finished by then, too. I never know what will sneaky little project will crawl out of my UFO trunk, calling my name and begging to be finished! See you in May -- until then, happy quilting, everyone! Sue (c)2012 Susan H. Garman
Hi! My name is Muriel and I’m a staff member and teacher at Little Quilts. Everyone at the shop knows I love handwork and that I’m addicted to English Paper Piecing! Currently I’m working on reproducing the beautiful Patchwork of the Crosses quilt made by Lucy Boston in the 1950’s. If you’d like to follow my progress, check the blog every Thursday when I’ll be posting pictures along with tips and techniques for making the blocks. If you’d like to stitch along with me, you will need a few supplies. You will need 1” Honeycomb and 1” Square Template Papers, a 1” Honeycomb and a 1” Square Acrylic Template, a SewLine Fabric Glue Pen, and a good tweezers. Check our website (www.littlequilts.com) for a starter kit that will include all these supplies along with a “Lucy Boston Patchwork of the Crosses” book . In addition you will need embroidery scissors, thread, and needles. I prefer #11 Milliners or Straw needles because they are thin enough to allow me to feel the template papers while I’m stitching. My favorite thread is Aurifil – it is strong thread, but fine enough to thread through the small eye of the milliner needles. Always use 100% cotton thread when using cotton fabric. I know you’re going to love the accuracy of English Paper Piecing as well as its portability. It’s the perfect project for making use of little snippets of fabric as well as little snippets of time – while watching television, riding in a car or plane, or maybe even while sitting at the doctor’s office. I will be using the age-old method of English Paper Piecing to make my blocks. Watch for a step-by-step tutorial on this method next week as well as information on Inklingo for those of you who prefer hand piecing.
Made in collaboration with Barbour, this coat highlights her love of the great outdoors. A decidedly feminine take on the iconic British jacket, it features a couture-inspired open neck and comes with a detachable quilted gilet made up of antique-inspired floral linens and cottons.
I love creating little quilts inspired by those made in the past. Check out my Doll Quilt Pinterest Board for lots of little inspiration. Here are a few of my recent reproductions. These three project are part of our Monthly Mini Club We have a few spots left so if you are interested in making some cute little quilts check out all the details and sign up here. + + + + + + + + P.S. the basket and flying geese quilts are past projects and we have a few kits available here. P.S.S. The cute spring star quilt is this months project and will be in the mail to all club participants next week.
Closeup view of one of Carol’s favorite antique Japanese indigo boro!
On my third trip walking through the exhibit at Festival , I took pictures of some of the quilts that really grabbed me. It's a pretty ecle...
I was so worried after sending back my first Quilt of Valor. Would it be good enough? Would they want me to quilt a second one? This was the first time I had quilted for someone other than myself o…
