Stories from the Textiles

'Stories from the Textiles' is the current exhibit at the Westchester Township History Museum.  This signature quilt (347 names) was a fund raiser for the Ladies Aid Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church of Burdick, IN in 1896.  John Wolford was the high bidder at $100!  The applique was applied by machine and the quilt was beautifully hand-quilted.



The exhibit includes two beautiful Jacquard coverlets.   The first coverlet was woven in 1852 by John Garis, professional weaver and surveyor.

The second coverlet was woven in 1853 by Danial and Levi Fisher, professional weavers from South Bend, IN.







There are four exceptional hexagon pieces by Hannah Morgan Hassell circa 1850 - these pieces alone are worth a visit. 

If you're in the area, stop in - no charge.  The museum is housed in the Brown Mansion built in 1885.

Strange as it may sound, during my visit I discovered that in 1942 my dad brought his future bride (my mom) flowers to celebrate her high school graduation day!

Border Resolutions

Here's my little doll quilt top of leftover triangles. I added borders, courthouse steps style, in fabric strips that just happended to have been lying on the cutting table. The strips were leftover from Lori's CC&C. The pink and brown finally has a border. As you can see, I went with a medium brown, and only that. I just wanted to contain the piecing, without adding any more pink. The binding will be in the same fabric. Now all I have to do is stash it away, with a note to myself what it's being saved for. I could cut the binding now, but by the time this is quilted, it could be quite thready. There are just way too many tops, and not enough finished at this time. The problem is that I can't hand quilt for long each day because my hands get numb. Does anyone else have this happen?

There was an antique block on ebay that appealed to me, so I quickly sewed my own version. Another "just because" block.

Border Disputes, Part II

I'm continuing the subject of Jan's last post.  I completed this Snowball & 9 Patch on New Year's Eve night (disturbing insight into my social life!).  As soon as I laid the completed top on the floor to admire, I noticed something in one corner.  Oops, one 9 patch 4's/5's transposed.  It would be easy to fix since it's in the corner, but I kinda like it.  I'm leaving the mistake in - major breakthru for me!

Thanks to Jan for sharing a 1/2 yd of the background fabric to complete the quilt.  Fabric requirements increase when changing from straight set to 'on point'.  Sauder's shopping with a friend is a 'good thing'! 

Now to the border dispute.  I have background strips to add a 3 1/2" max outer border.  So the options are:  1)  no border, 2) background border only, or 3) skinny inner border (maybe not the fabric pictured) and background border.  

Border Disputes

Year before last the local quilt store, Needle and Thread, sold six inch pink and brown sampler blocks - one each week. I signed up because I'd always wanted to make a pink and brown quilt. Well, by the end of the year, I'd had my fill of pink and brown. Recently, I thought I would play with them on the design wall, and this is the result. This was the layout that I'd had in mind all along. It didn't use all of the blocks, but there are just a few leftovers. The question now is, do I put a narrow brown border on (of which, you can see a short strip of), and call it finished? I tend to think that is all that it needs, but I'm not certain.

Which brings me to this little top, from Lori's Cheddar Cheese and Crackers pattern. I see that nobody else put a border on their version. Now, generally, I really don't think quilts need borders. Lots of old quilts just went out to the edge, and that was that, which I like. But, on this one, I'm thinking of a very narrow border, probably brown (my go-to color), and then another of cheddar. It would have to be a different cheddar, because this was all used up except for some crumbs. Decisions, decisions!

Btw, just ignore the little bits underneath - the design wall is quite crowded with projects. But, that's a good thing!

This and That

I visited Common Threads Quilting in Waxahachie, TX last Saturday.  This shop was featured in Quilt Sampler, Spring/Summer 2007.  It's a great shop for repro lovers.  I wanted to take a pic of all the stacks of repro bolts, but the shop is loaded with samples.  I couldn't get a shot without intruding on someone's work.  So, I'll share pics of the front windows (sorry for the glass glare).

I did a little stash enhancement.  This first stack is from the 50% sale!  Sale fabric encourages me to step outside my zone.  Often these pieces are just what I need when pulling a quilt together late at night.  Do you find that to be true?  You pick it up because it's on sale, even though it's something you would pass up at full price, and then it's exactly the quirky piece you need!

This is my 'full price' pile. - all Judy Rothermel fabric.  The bottom two pieces are from the Civil War Tribute line and the top is from Patchwork Heritage Classics (great cheddar piece).   

 

A Love Story

Recently someone blogged about irons. I wasn't really familiar with the blogger, but I just had to post a comment. I have had no luck with irons in the past few years, really since I began quilting over twenty years ago. New irons, regardless of price, just don't perform, in mho. They rarely last out a year. Now, old irons are a different story altogether. Vicki uses her Mom's iron. I'm not certain of the age of it, but it must be thirty, if it's a day. It puts out steam like nobody's business, and gets really hot, and is heavy. One quick pass and whatever you're ironing is smooth as silk. I've been searching for one of my very own, and finally found one, and it's a beauty! Almost new. It had the original box and instructions, although they were musty. I think someone used it for a short while, and put it away. The original price was on the box - $18.95. I paid considerably more, but it was worth every penny. Now for something quilty. Here is a little (6") Friendship Star block I made a week or so ago. Just because...