This Old Quilt - BlogHoster

Sunday, July 6, 2008 - An Antique Quilt Top

You just never know what you might find in the antique shop in my little bitty town. Yesterday we stopped in to browse. Hadn't been there in ages. Well, I ran across this little gem. It's all hand pieced and in excellent shape. I think the fabrics date to the 1800s. Someone has laundered it so it will need a few seams repaired, but that's it. Any guesses as to what the block name is? I can't find it in any of my books.

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Sunday, November 18, 2007 - New Project on the Design Wall

I'm not much of a novelty fabric kind of gal, but when I saw this poinsettia toile I had to have it because it was 50 % off. Never mind that I had no clue how much I would need or even have a pattern in mind for that matter. So I bought three yards.

Once home with it, I sat and stared at it for a while. I guess I expected it to sit up and tell me what it wanted to become. It didn't. So I had to peruse my ever expanding library of patterns to find one that would accommodate 3 yards of toile. I couldn't find anything so I went back to staring at the fabric.

Finally I decided that since I've been wanting to try paper piecing I'd look for a paper piecing pattern. Online. Do you have any idea how many paper piecing patterns there are online? Several hours later, I found one in a book I had picked up at my LQS and I suppose by then I was so exhausted and brain dead I just said "Yeah, that'll do."

Then of course I had to pick fabrics to go with it. So far I've done mostly scrappy quilts. I wanted to try something more traditional. I don't have a large stash of fabric at home. Taking my time to find just the right fabric while shopping with my teenage son apparently isn't an option either. So under a considerable amount of duress this is what I ended up with.

The pattern is called Eloise's Flower Garden. I think I'm going to name it Christmas in the Garden. I'm planning to hand quilt a holly motif in the off white diamonds. I'm thinking a small dark green first border, the toile for a larger second and then the dark green again for the binding. Seems like the blocks need a little more of something. Maybe applique a small dark green diamond in the center square?

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Tuesday, November 6, 2007 - The Wild Thing is Done

I had to step so far out of my comfort zone to make this one, I nearly got lost. I'm a homespun and reproductions kind of gal. My daughter, well, she's not. She's bright and bubbly and has tastes to match. I have to admit now though, that these fabrics were a blast to work with. The pattern name is Candy Is Dandy.

I think she'll especially like the batik on the back.

My original plan was to do some allover quilting, but my free motion techniques still stink. So I opted to try some invisible and variegated thread with the hand quilting feature on my Singer 9920. It's kind of a cool feature, but in order to get the stitches to look nice you have to go really, REALLY slow. And if you make a boo boo and need to rip a seam, good luck getting it out. On the plus side, I'm not worried about it falling apart.

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Tuesday, November 6, 2007 - A finished project!

I finally finished this pinwheel medallion. My first major attempt at machine quilting. I kept it simple with strait lines as I'm still not comfortable with that fee motion stuff. I'll need lots more practice before I'll be brave enough to try it on a quilt.

I have an online friend who suggested naming quilts like meteorologists name hurricanes. I've decided to name this one Katrina. Why? Well, it was a disaster waiting to happen. I was way in over my head. But in the end, it was a valuable learning experience!

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Monday, October 29, 2007 - Indianapolis Quilt Show Pictures

I attended the Quilters Guild of Indianapolis quilt show this weekend. I thought I would post a few pictures for your viewing pleasure.

First, the winners.

And then the insanely tedious.

The pieces are literally postage stamp size

And this wholecloth quilt has the tiniest hand stitching I've ever seen

So after struggling lately just to quilt a strait line, I was more than a little humbled to be in the presence of these masterpieces.

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Sunday, October 21, 2007 - New Sewing Table is Finally Done!

And I'm thrilled with it. It seemed like the finishing process was going to take forever, but it was worth it. I like the fact that it blends in well with the antiques in the room.

And I love the drop leaf in the back as well as the breadboards. That will really come in handy when doing machine quilting. It's on wheels, so I can just roll it out from the wall to get access to the drop leaf.

Since taking this picture I've already filled up all the drawers. It will be nice to have all my notions so handy.

But what I love the most, is that if fits me! I tried using commercial tables and they were all way too tall. I'm short, only 5' 1", so having a sewing table just my size is awesome! I love it, even though everyone made fun of it and wanted to know if we were building a child's desk.

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Tuesday, August 28, 2007 - Sewing Room Master Plan

Came up with a plan for the sewing room, you can see it here. Other than that just another day of scraping cresent roll dough off the ceiling. (The can went off like a bomb.) One more of the many reasons I don't care much for cooking. Last week I set the smoke alarm off. Never a dull meal around here.

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Wednesday, August 22, 2007 - I've Moved

To catch up on all the latest check out the new blog at http://www.serialquilters.com/ThisOldQuilt/

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Friday, August 17, 2007 - Setting Goals

I've decided to set some quilting goals for this fall and winter. In addition to completing my already started projects I would like to make 3 lap quilts. Two as gifts and one "challenge" for me. This is the one I've chosen for me. It's called One Vine Day. I really want to learn applique and, I've at least been told, the vine and leaf pattern is an easy way to learn. I doubt I'll have time to even start it until January though.

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Wednesday, August 15, 2007 - A little bit about me

I guess you'd have to say I'm a seasonal quilter. Not necessarily by choice. Spring and summer months I seem to spend shedding my blood, sweat and tears in the garden and working on our old farmhouse. By the end of the day I'm typically too tired to lift my arms.

I prefer traditional quilts and reproduction fabrics. I have hundreds of them planned in my mind. :) I only started quilting just before Christmas last year. I'm self taught. Although I did finally take a few classes this spring. I'm still intimidated with machine quilting. I can do straight lines okay, but that free motion stuff scares me. I hope to practice and be able to master the skill enough to actually complete some quilts. This hand quilting is S-L-O-W going. But I really do like the look of it. And it's nice to have something to carry with me and work on in found moments.

I'm a homeschool mom. We're working through 8th grade this year. Now that we're back inside the house I'm getting the urge to quilt again. I have projects waiting to be started on my cutting table, I just need the time. Of course, then there's that nagging guilt of those UFO's. But if I'm going to get gifts done in time for Christmas, I suppose I'd better get started.

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Wednesday, August 15, 2007 - Challenging Star Quilt

This quilt top still needs it's outer borders. I'm having a hard time working with a large top on my wee little make do sewing table. I really need a larger surface to prevent the top from sliding out from under the needle.

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Wednesday, August 15, 2007 - Handwork

This hand pieced, hand quilted wallhaning is almost finished, I just need to add the binding.

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Wednesday, August 15, 2007 - Pinwheel Medallion

This machine-pieced wall haning is waiting to be hand quilted. Pieced in February 2007.