Tag Archive | Quilt History

Keeping up with the Big Girls!

Nov10

Weekend is drawing to a close already.  Too fast for sure this time, as it probably will be for the rest of the year.  It will be 2014 before we all know it!

I got the center stars completed for Nantucket.  They actually go really fast and you end up with a flimsy of about 45″ square, before the 9 patch borders.

This looks so cozy already, I just want to get it on the couch!

You can sew along with a group of bloggers who are all doing the Nantucket pattern.  Nicole, Lisa, Thelma and Sinta are the ‘official’ group – but many are joined up as well.

Nantucket 9 Stars

I started on my strip sets for the 9 patch unit.  Had to make at least an inspirational one to get me going…  The first of HOW MANY???

Nantucket 9 patch

Ok, it will go fast too I’m sure.  Good practice for getting a perfect quarter inch seam allowance.

Thought I would also share a couple of pictures of my first completed quilt.  I made it in 1990 or 1991 I think.  During college, pieced a little over half of it by hand, and then the rest on a new Singer machine, cut the pieces by hand with a pencil and yardstick as my guides.  No pattern really, just laid out the log cabin blocks in a ‘barn raising’ layout (?).

My grandmother helped me handquilt it after I borrowed her four long wood slats and clamps that she herself used in the day to do quilts.  I hung the frame from my bedroom ceiling with hooks.  It will be a memory that I will be able to treasure forever!

Christmas Log Cabin 1

It was a gift for my boyfriend.  It came with a disclaimer however, which was that it had to stay in my family.  Hence, I had it back a year or so later.  LOL

The backing was a king size green sheet and I rolled it to the front to make the binding.  I may have bought a second sheet to cut up for the borders.  I used extra loft batting and this thing is thick.  I just outline quilted the cabin blocks, but did my best to put some holiday themed items in the borders (bells, holly berries, feathers).

Christmas Log Cabin 2

Unfortunately, through loving use and poor quality materials – a couple of spots have come up that are in need of great repair.

Christmas LC Repair 1

And here ….

Christmas LC Repair 2

I still have the scraps in a bag somewhere, tucked away in my closets.  I’ll need to get these mended somehow.  I’ll be on the search in blog land for some good tutorials on DIY quilt repairs.

Thanks again for stopping by!  I hope you had a great weekend also!

Jennifer

Happy Birthday Mom!!

Oct24

Special day for our family.  My mom is having a birthday and if anyone is the center of an extended family – it is her.  She does everything and has always done everything.  She’s a social butterfly and attentive wife, mother and grandmother.  Now that I’m writing this post, I wish I had a good picture of her to include…. darn.  My parents also celebrated their 50th anniversary this year.

I thought I would do a post today to accomplish two things at the same time.  1)  Honor my mom’s birthday and showcase the prior quilted items I have made in the past for her, and 2) update more items to my Quilt History page.

First up is a bed runner I made for her.  I think it was a Christmas gift for 2011.  NO LABEL!!! !@#$@#$!  I guess I can still make one and attach it.

The colors go great with her neutral toned bedding.  The fabric is Park Avenue by 3 Sisters and I got the pattern from the book “Bed Runners using Precut Fabrics” by Kathy Brown.  My mother is also a retired English teacher, so I need to comment that I know I should underline book titles, but I don’t have that option in my free WordPress application.

I gave her the coordinated fabric covered buttons as an option, but she decided to leave them off.  They would have gone in the center of each “flower” block.

Moms Bed Runner 4

This is on her actual bed. 

Moms Bed Runner 3

 

Moms Bed Runner 1

I was under a time crunch and I wasn’t confident enough to do the quilting myself yet, so I just gave her the quilt top with the backing/binding material in her gift.  She had it quilted locally and the woman selected a dove/bird motif as the pattern.

Moms Bed Runner 5

The next one to show you is a table topper I made her on July 4th, 2012.  I started this project when I got home one night from work and stayed up all night to finish it, and free motion quilt it myself!  I did the binding by hand and completed the label applique on the drive to her house that next morning.

It is called Ozark Star and the pattern is by Fons & Porter.  They did a segment on their show one day on this project and I really liked it.  Since it was 4th of July, I found some great fabrics I had in my stash by Anna Griffin called Fleur Rogue along with a random charm pack and yardage that was also patriotic looking. 

 

Ozark Star Center

Nora loves her hair clips.  Not just for hair apparently!

Ozark Star with Nora

I even threw some fast embroidery on the label to try and spice it up.  I think this backing fabric was a juvenile print called “Rescue 911” if I recall correctly.

Ozark Star label

Another table runner that I made was documented extensively on my blog already … it was the quilt along I did with Pam Buda called “Forget Me Not”.  Here’s the finished quilt runner, but you can click on my tags to the right and see all the posts relating to this quilt.

I gave this to my Mom on her birthday last year, 2012.

FMN Quilt

I still love this quilt and the details I put into it.  Like the wooden forget-me-not flower button.

FMN Border Closeup

 

Finally… I have tried and tried to remember if this was my FIRST quilt or my SECOND.  The other option is a king size Christmas log cabin quilt which I haven’t shown you yet.  But… I think this might be the second.  I didn’t label it, so there you go.  LABEL YOUR QUILTS!

Complete unknown fabrics from Hancock Fabric and WalMart.

Christmas Tree Wall Hanging 1

 

So – HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!  I reserve the right to whip up another quilted gift for you tonight… 🙂

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Jennifer

100th Post! Starting History Journal

Oct4

Good day to everyone!  Thanks for visiting my humble little blog.  I started this a little over a year ago and it has been a good way for me to express my joy of quilting in a forum that doesn’t push it on those who don’t care (like through my personal Facebook profile).  I’m always excited to get comments and feedback and to see how many people have visited my blog pages. 

Today is my 100th blog post!  Yay!  Celebrate!  Also, I’m too cheap to get a fancy blog that can do neat visual effects and stuff, so you get things like .. Yay!  Celebrate!

🙂  Ok … so I thought I would finally start my quilt history entries.  Another reason I decided to do a blog was to capture my quilt accomplishments and always have a place I could come to look back on my life in fabric.

I am starting with a quilt I made for my brother when I was at Texas A&M in Bryan/College Station, TX.  I remember it quite vividly (more so than the classes I attended that semester).   I think the year was 1993?  Maybe?

I did my cutting using a yardstick, clear protractor, dressmaker pencil and orange Fiskar scissors.  NO rotary tools back then!  I marked every quarter inch seam allowance before I sewed my pieces together.  I did my piecing on the coffee table, while sitting or kneeling on the floor in front of it.  I bought my fabric from the Hancock Fabrics chain (similar to Joanns) or even Wal-Mart.  I had no idea there were actual quilt shops with different quality of fabric available.  I didn’t know anything about designers or manufacturers such as MODA.  I was just emulating my grandmother. 

Will Quilt 3

That mauve calico print was very popular – I remember that much.  The pattern probably came from my Better Homes & Gardens (or was it McCalls?) guide book which I had subscribed to as a ‘pattern of the month’ program.  I have a very large 3  ring binder and once a month, I would get an envelope for a new pattern and a sheet of plastic with the templates drawn on them for me to cut out and use, if applicable.  This may have just been called Ohio Star.

Will Quilt 2

 

After sewing it together, I had purchased a PVC pipe quilt frame by Q SNAP to do the quilting by hand.  I probably used safety bins to baste it.  I don’t remember that part.

Will Quilt 4

I used a piece of chalk and a quilting template to mark different designs on the borders.  You can see above, barely, my feather design.  And below, you can see my simple outline/stitch in the ditch quilting for the blocks and some diagonal lines for the inner border:

Will Quilt 5

Finally – a sunflower motif in the corners:

Will Quilt 6

I had to request my brother to bring me this quilt this past summer so I could photograph it.  I can tell it has been washed more than once and been well loved.  I am so happy about that!  The binding doesn’t feel as though I have any batting in it and it is starting to wear out and wear thin in some spots.  One day, I will offer to rebind it for him. 

Hope you enjoyed my nostalgic look back.  I will share more projects next week.  As I complete a showcase, I will move a picture of that quilt to my History tab here in WordPress.

I appreciate those of you who visit my blog and thanks for being here on my 100th post!

Jennifer