Every now and then a quilt top travels a very long way to my studio.  

This one came from Kansas through many decades, fashioned by a loving mother of eleven children.  She bought many blue floral feed sacks - originally full of flour or sugar - and when empty and washed, and her appliquéd tulip blocks were completed, she could piece them into this precious quilt top.

For reasons unknown (why do we store quilt tops?!), her creation waited for a certain granddaughter to treasure many, many years later.  This granddaughter wasn't a quilter, but desired to have an heirloom; a tangible reminder of the visits to a grandmother long past.

I get a few goosebumps whenever I load a quilt with history, such as this one!  As I've said in earlier posts, when I work with vintage quilt tops I machine quilt them in the style of the era in which they were made, as closely to what a hand-quilter would have done had she finished the quilt.

So, for this quilt, I echoed around the appliqué in the tulip blocks and quilted a feather wreath in the feed sack blocks.  I selected to echo around each wreath, not only to maintain a balance in quilting style, but density as well.

My customer added three borders to the center of the quilt top so it would cover her (much larger) bed so she could use it and display it.  

Here, you can see her borders when the quilt was loaded on the machine.  Her brilliant choice of reproduction '30s fabrics was a perfect bridge between past and present, enabling me to continue the feather theme I quilted in the feed sack blocks.  Piano keys with radiating lines in the corners were quilted in the outer border.

The neatest part about this quilt is that it is loved as a finished piece, not just hanging, waiting, and unappreciated.  Granted, it would have been much more special had it been hand-quilted in Kansas decades ago.  I gratefully own quilts from both my paternal and maternal grandmothers who painstakingly hand-pieced and hand-quilted them.  One was a busy farm wife, the other the wife of a rural postal carrier - but more about their lives and quilts in an upcoming post.  For now, my feelings are that you simply cannot have these cherished heirlooms without appreciating the woman that fashioned them, and the life they lived.  

And so I am thrilled when a quilt such as this, with rich history just oozing from the fibers, stops at my door to visit for a while...

                                                   ...it is another reason why I quilt.

Return with Honor

When our son-in-law left for a tour in Afghanistan a year ago, I asked him if he would like a quilt to celebrate his return.  He grinned at me, knowing it wouldn't be the first he'd received, but possibly one that had the most feeling behind it.  

He was right. 

Part of that feeling was my desire to make it using materials he would like.  Being in the army and being male, I chose flannels for the top that would suit his gender and in colors that would closely match an infantryman in the desert - except for the green, I suppose.  

How much green can you find in a desert? Truth be told, the green flannel was chosen to match the backing:  a vintage WWII Army Issue wool blanket. Right:  the top is ready for the quilting process, placed on top of the army blanket with very little leeway.  

Here the U.S. insignia on the army blanket can be seen on the quilt backing.  I made sure it was placed in the center!

The pattern I chose for this very manly quilt was "Kasuri Gesiki", a Japanese log cabin design (do they have log cabins in Japan?!), which made its debut with Robert Kaufman fabrics, looking very (what else?) Japanese.  My choice of fabrics didn't translate to that culture, I hope!!  Using the pattern, the block size came out to 5" x 5", but with the bulkiness of flannel, I adapted all measurements to produce 10" x 10" blocks.  

To quilt it, I stitched-in-the-ditch and stitched one circle in each block.  

My Gammill did great working with a heavy Army blanket as backing - a first!  I did use wool batting - not needed since it's certainly heavy enough - but I wanted extra warmth.

When Conor returned December, 2012 I was thrilled to gift him this special quilt - all wrapped up in feelings of joy, pride, relief and excitement - packed with emotions like  no other quilt I've given to anyone before!  And the best part?  Well, I hope he remembers that love when he wraps up in it, each and every time.

And that's why I quilt.

Go Be Dazzled!

I can't think of a better moniker for this quilt than this dazzling one I quilted up for a customer recently.  The photography just doesn't catch it.  (Sorry, I'm a quilter, not a photographer - I'll improve)!  The picture, above, was taken outdoors at 8:00 a.m., creating a washed-out effect.  But the two pics below were taken indoors with good light, allowing the warmth of the true colors to come through.

And what colors!!!!  They definitely are dazzling.  It's incredible how much black fabric there is nowadays, probably because of how it can contrast with any other color.

The appliqué work, embroidered using her Bernina, begged feathers because some of the appliqué are feathers (notice the black border on all shots, plus the close up, below).

  

 A fun part for me is taking the finished quilt off the machine to look at the back. I love how the solid color of this backing allows a black-and-white-negative effect.

I hope your true colors come through on your next quilt!  It doesn't have to be a Go Be Dazzled! pattern.  But aim to choose colors that maybe aren't the ones pictured in the pattern - ones that you like.  And it doesn't have to be custom-quilted, like this one was.  Make sure you look at my 'Pantographs' tab on my blog to find just the right one to dazzle at ppatchworks.blogspot.com/pantographs...at least I hope this link gets you there.  If not, certainly enter my blog address, then click on the tab...

...which reminds me, customers have taken advantage of my Second Quarter Special already. It's a doozie!!!  Don't miss out.

Scrappy Quilts (or Reduce your Stash with No Cash)!

Summers are typical of a bit of down time in the professional longarmer world.  So it was last summer for me when I decided to piece a few quilts with my worm accumulation.  Worms are strips of fabric, usually 21/4"-21/2" wide, that you have collected over a series of projects just for the purpose of assembling them into a scrap quilt.  This post features three quilt tops I pieced last summer that hung patiently in the closet until I had time earlier this year to quilt them up.  

This quilt, using a pattern called Buzz Saw, was pieced entirely of collected worms except a purchase of green border fabric.  However, the actual piecing process did not require a border, just the sly placement of blocks with the green 'border' material to make it appear framed.   When using scraps, a quilt typically needs control fabric such as the green used here to unify the quilt top.

For the second quilt of three, I gathered all my pastel worms and created a precious pinwheel quilt.  Although it looks '30's, none of the fabrics were reproduction '30's. I quilted it in freehand feathers and curls to complete the vintage, cottage-y feel.

Fun tip:  if you have a straight-back rocking chair without cushions, consider weaving a quilt through it and - tah dah! - you have instant comfort such as this one now has.  You can seasonally change the quilts; a wool one in winter, this pinwheel quilt in the spring, etc.   How inviting!

The third and last quilt, called Cobblestones, was made from worms and was the most expensive one to make.  The cobblestones were made entirely of worms, but some rust yardage was purchased for the control fabric.

Below is a closeup of the freehand feathers quilted along each strip of fabric as well as the borders.

All of the patterns used for the quilts in this post were from Debbie Caffrey's books using fat quarters or worms.  The backdrop of my book display is another lap quilt I've made using Shape Up Your Fat Quarters.  I highly recommend any of her books.  The patterns are very easy to follow, the quilts are very easy to piece, and the best part is reducing your stash so you can purchase new fabric!!!

Oh, My (Radial) Stars! Thirty-six of them, actually...

A customer brought a quilt into the studio recently wanting freehand/custom-work done on her Radial Star Quilt.  Taking three years to finish all thirty-six of these beauties, I almost felt guilty telling her it would take about 4-6 weeks to quilt it - and only because there were a couple people in the queue ahead of her, otherwise it would've been finished earlier.

She was thrilled I could get it done so quickly.  Actually, it takes a LOT of time for design interpretation and implementation on either freehand, custom or heirloom quilting...

...Sometimes many design hours are needed before the quilting process even begins.  What's my favorite part?  I guess I'd have to say that seeing the design come to life on the quilt, right along with the happy expression of the customer when she sees the finished product.

This being said, I must pose a question to quilters: is it your goal to work for weeks or months on a project and then hang it in your closet, unfinished, unseen and unappreciated?  Or is it to get a project done and gloriously move on to the next one?  My suggestion is once you've finished piecing a quilt top, get 'em quilted so you can gift them or use them!  If you aren't in a hurry, then tie, hand quilt or machine quilt your smaller projects on your domestic machine.  But for those times you want a quilt completed quickly and professionally, hire a longarmer.  This is exactly what the longarm industry was designed to do; to help you move onto the next tantalizing project while your quilter works on your last one.

A reasonable goal to get a quilt top longarm-quilted and finished would be within 1-4 months of piecing.  Budget ahead of time not only for the fabric, but for the quilting.  You can click on my Quilting Services page to get an idea of the charges.  

Clean out the quilt closet, one at a time, and let's enjoy these quilted treasures!

Turning Down the Quilt

How well I remember the days when visiting my grandmother.  At the end of a busy day I would always find the bed turned down, just so.  The freshly laundered and line-dried sheets and pillowcases would not have a wrinkle in them.  It wasn't until many years later I learned that she had painstakingly ironed them.  (Don't look too close here, you will find wrinkles!)  

Time seemed to tick slower then.  In fact, even the sound of time pleasantly resonated through the hardwoods of a Mantle or Grandfather Clock nearby.

And the quilts!  I don't remember the patterns, but I remember the cheery colors and the smell of their being hung on the line.

Isn't it amazing how kind acts of service can be so influential?  Today I try to recapture those feelings in the quilts I make and give others, especially to my family.  

I have both of my guest rooms ready to provide comfort for visitors. Pillowcases, quilts and even a Mantle Clock can be found.  It's just something I've learned through the loving hands of a grandmother, decades ago.

But of late, this is the only interested guest I've had...  

The Black Ear-tufted Squirrel is indigenous to ponderosa pine forests, and we've got plenty here in Black Forest.  He not only lodges in them, but relies on them for a food source.  Well, today he's getting a bit of amendment to his pine diet by eating the birdseed falling from a bird feeder overhead. 

The quilt featured in this post is one I've had hanging in my closet, unfinished, waiting for vintage jadeite fabric for the outside border and binding prior to quilting.  Barring a trip to Kansas to catch every estate sale, my search proved fruitless.  In this process, I learned it's not only my favorite vintage color, but many others', as well.  So, I did the unthinkable and purchased a yard or so of contemporary Kona Cotton Solid Aloe to allow this quilt to be quilted in (what else?) feathers.

To close, here's a sneak peek at another of my enduring* projects, which is getting closer to the quilting process!  It's made entirely of vintage materials, including repurposed pillowcase fabric.  I have one more block to do but ran out of old pillowcases.

*"Enduring" means it waits and waits and waits....

So, the next time you have visitors, I hope you remember to Turn Down the Quilt and allow time to slowly tick by as you enjoy their visit.  And I also hope that these seeds of love you plant will blossom in a continued legacy through the lives of your loved ones, as it has in mine.

The 1930s Grandmother's Fan Quilt

I've recently finished quilting a c.1930s Grandmother's Fan quilt top I found antiquing!  Many of the fabrics were likely taken from cloth sacks that held a variety of staple goods, from sugar to flour to animal feed.  

I wish I would have taken a picture of a certain quilt block before machine quilting it in continuous curves and feathers, because on the muslin fabric background you could barely read “Great West…Denver, Co…Table & Pr…”.  So I got on the internet and searched using this cryptic information, knowing I would come up with a vintage sugar sack somewhere...

Within seconds I found that the maker of this vintage quilt top used “Great Western Sugar Co.” sugar sacks.  These sacks were printed with non-permanent ink so that the graphics could be washed out once they were empty. The plain cotton fabric could then be used for household linens, clothing and quilts, such as in this utilitarian Grandmother’s Fan.  Pictured here is a sugar sack just like those used in the construction of this quilt.  I had to buy it just for sentimentality!

Once I finished quilting the top, and after binding it to reduce fraying, I washed it in my washing machine in cold water using gentle detergent and Oxy, hoping the colors wouldn’t bleed.  There were many age spots typical of a vintage piece that Oxy does well to remove.  And no, I didn’t test the fabrics before washing or use Retayne to hold colors.  This was perhaps a foolish move, considering I didn’t know how old the maker’s fabric stash was to determine a possible transfer of dye. Original stains faded, but new ones didn't appear.  Phew!

A bit of history on the Grandmother’s Fan quilt:  this pattern first appeared in print in a Ladies Art Company catalog of 1897. Prior to that, fans were common motifs in late nineteenth century crazy quilts. Their popularity likely was due to the fad for decorating in the Japanese style, which was prompted by Americans' exposure to Japanese art at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. By the 1930s, fans were standard favorites for quilt patterns.

The 1930s quilts represent my most favorite genre of quilting because of the brilliant thrift the women used to create useful yet beautiful quilts from what they had.  I’m also emotionally connected to ‘30s quilts because I remember sleeping underneath them as a child when visiting my grandparents. 

The Great Depression of the 1930s was the longest and most severe economic crisis in American history. It impacted jobs, standards of living, well-being and many areas of American popular culture. It also created a sense of connectedness among those who experienced the period. Passed on orally in many families, the experience of life in hard times has become part of the common heritage of millions of Americans.

The generations who lived through the Depression are now elderly and soon the living voices describing those times will pass. One of the lasting artifacts of the era will be its quilts - quilts made by women who lived by the saying, "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without." The beauty and functionality they created from recycled fabrics gleaned from feed and flour sacks, old clothes and scraps left over from dressmaking left a legacy of quiltmaking tradition. 

These quilts are excellent examples of material culture allowing us a glimpse into the lives of women who may have otherwise been overlooked or invisible, but who made up the better part of the backbone of our country during "hard times". In future posts you’ll see many more '30s finished quilt tops to honor a tenacious tendency to provide warmth, beauty and emotional stability in their homes despite economic instability.