Like Old Times

I bought this quilt top from Ebay for a song several years ago.  My intent at the time was to finish it and I think the time has arrived.  I just love it!  It has a lot of feedbacks and fabrics from the 20s to 40s, I believe.  I spent the afternoon taking the yellow borders off and then trimming the inner pink border down.  To my eye, both were to wide.  The yellow borders were cut on the lengthwise grain.  The original 36 inch wide fabric was torn into 4 equal parts and then sewn onto the quilt with what looked like carpet thread.  I'm guessing the maker put the borders on as a 'placeholder' of sorts and planned on adjusting the width later.  I was really afraid before I started!  But she did a fine join with the borders and I ended up just having to ease the pink inner border a bit.

Here's a closeup of a block.  The blocks are about 11 inches square.

My favorite block.  I went over it carefully looking for any popped seams and nothing.

I love how the maker cute the stripes lengthwise.  I would never have done that!  But maybe she had no choice.
I'm thinking of doing a simple vertical/horizontal grid using my sewing machine.  From what I've read white thread was the color mostly used so I might stick with that.
I'd also like to reproduce using present day reproduction fabrics.
If anyone can add any insights into finishing vintage tops, please do!  
Talk to you later~

Recycle

Here's what I came up with using the red/aqua D9P blocks.  The majority were in pretty bad shape, cut crookedly, tiny seam allowances, so much so, that I ended up taking the blocks apart and resewing into 4-patches and an assortment of 4-inch sized squares.  I made 64 Arkansas Crossroads blocks and then turned every other row to get that zigzag effect. 

I had a fun time revisiting the variety of fabrics used.

I like the way the aqua ranged from very light to very dark with a bit of teal and seafoam green thrown in.

It's not a combo of colors I ever work with and it's certainly not a favorite of mine, but I am glad it is out of plastic bag and off the shelf.  I might even quilt this one myself. 

Completion

These are the quilt blocks I made for February from an online site that is posting free directions on the 15th of each month. I had to 'drop everything' to make them! I'm using Christmas colors and plan on giving the finished quilt to my SIL.

I finished making the quilt using my Batik leftovers from the Batik Challenge. I so wanted to buy some other Batiks but made myself work with what I had on hand.

Would you believe I still have more scraps left?

I think the quilt is done though. I just started by making some house blocks and letting things evolve from there. It finishes about 40 by 33 inches.

This is William, my daughter's budgie that I inherited when she went off to college. He's been sick for the past several months with cancer. It overtook him yesterday morning. He was a good little guy with as much personality as any dog or cat and will be missed.
Thanks for stopping by.

It's Done

I've been busily sewing away here on my Batik Challenge started by Nicole.

I dutifully went through my stash choosing, what I thought, were just the right batiks. If you remember I chose "Murky Pond In The Berkshires" from the book Batiks and Beyond. The author really walks you through the block- making making everything so easy with simple and straightforward directions. And the batiks were a real pleasure to work with. There is just something about the way they turn out when pressed. I think 'crisp' says it all.

I finished putting the borders on this morning, and I hate it.

Oh, I like the fact that those outer borders are 7 inches wide and I used several fat quarters that I've had in my stash for years.

I really can't put my finger on what I don't like about it which I find rather annoying. Maybe it's the limited number of fabrics I had to use. Or those really dark pinks, a bit much?

Regardless it's done. It finished at 55 by 47 inches. I have made the binding and backing but plan on putting it aside for a bit.

I caught this view with the light coming from the rear, reminds me of a stained glass window.

Catching Up

Isn't this a great floor? We had about a twenty minute wait at Ruby Tuesday's the other night and this was the tile in the lobby. I don't know why I've never noticed it before, maybe because we've never waited before.

This is what I've worked on yesterday and today.
I've had a basket of leftover homespun scraps in my sewing room since making this quilt. Started with this design and it got way too tedious. Those are 4 inch blocks, using 1.5 inch wide strips with a 2 inch square center.

I used up all the scraps and decided on a new arrangement along the way. I'm going to group 4 blocks together and then sash them with some muslin or another homespun, a small light blue check. I cut the remainder of the scraps into 1.5 inch squares to use as leaders and enders to make 4 patches.

While I was at it, I used up a lot of half-filled and quarter-filled bobbins of a variety of thread colors.

It got rather tiresome after awhile but I emptied a lot of bobbins! Thanks for visiting!

Odds and Ends

I started working on this quilt this past summer and finally got organized enough to send it out to be quilted.

Then when I got the quilt back I couldn't find the fabric I thought I had saved for the binding and was in a near panic. Most of the fabrics I used were fabrics from a few years ago, Anna Griffin and Urban Chiks I believe. After much sleuthing on the internet I found a yard of what I needed. Lucky I do believe!

Jackie did a wonderful job of quilting it. I made it for my daughter's dorm room, something colorful was definitely needed.

Love the pantograph Jackie used, Dust Devils.

I also got the binding put on one of the Asian fabric doll quilts I finished recently.

I just quilted it with meandering.

Not too sure I like the ecru thread I used but any other color on that ecru inner border would have bothered me.

Here's a picture outside this morning.

Looks like I was being watched from my sewing room!