Sunday, October 31, 2010

Happy Halloween Everyone!

This is a Scarecrow quilt that I made from a Red Wagon pattern using vintage feedsacks exclusively. Sorry for the cock-eyed photo. From where it is hanging it wasn't possible to take a full on pic. Here are a couple of the blocks:

The backing is all feedsack. I had a number of this pattern - maybe ten or more. It seemed to suit the quilt so quite a few of these were used here.
And, as always - Happy Birthday Dad! He is 84 today!



Saturday, October 23, 2010

IQSC Chintz Exhibit

 
Luck has been with me lately!  A traveling work assignment took me to Cincinnati where the International Quilt Study Chintz exhibit is featured at the Taft Museum thru Nov 7 (details on sidebar).  What a great kiosk advert of current exhibits.  I spent about 1 1/2 hours leisurely exploring 20 beautiful quilts.  I had the exhibit to myself for the first hour - heaven!  Two ladies were viewing the exhibit for the last half hour (magnifying glass in hand).  I'm posting a pic of the museum and three of my favorite quilts.  You can view the entire exhibit at the International Quilt Study website (exhibition search).  No pictures were allowed at the exhibit - these are from the IQSC website.  If you're close to Cincinnati, don't let the exhibit pass you by!










This first quilt is IQSC object number 2008.040.002 from the Byron and Sara Rhodes Dillow Collection circa 1820 - 1840, maker unknown.



This quilt is IQSC object number 1997.007.0369 from the Ardis and Robert James Collection circa 1820 - 1840, maker unknown.  I love the quilting design in the corners of the Lone Star block.



This last quilt was my favorite - perfect balance to my eye!  The width of the basket floral composition wasn't to the maker's liking, so she added floral pieces to each side.  This is IQSC object number 1997-007-0659 from the Ardis and Robert James Collection circa 1830 - 1850, maker unknown.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Doll Quilt Finish & Fessing Up!

This little triangle doll quilt was pieced of leftovers at our group's retreat last January. Just some simple hand quilting along the seam lines, but it's enough, I think. The purple trip-around-the-world quilt that I posted a couple of weeks ago came from this book:
You can see that I completely copied the colors. The fabrics for this were cut out back in the early 90's, and when the retreat rolled around I was in the mood to complete a UFO. This was one of the oldest, and as time passed, I liked it again. By then, two or three fabrics didn't cut the mustard so Vicki and I shopped at Yoder's for substitutions.


Check out some of the older fabrics that made the cut! How do you like those duckies and bunnies on the medium rose fabric? There wasn't a good fabric to swap it out with value-wise, so it stayed, and I think it's kind of funny that it's in there. The fabrics still all play together nicely. For some reason, when I make a reproduction quilt(which is most of the time), it's sometimes fun to throw in something that just doesn't belong. I really like to do this when there are lots of little pieces, and you would really have to search for it. Maybe I just find it hard to play by the rules? Yes, I think that's it!

The backing fabric was being saved so there would be lots of it visible. It practically makes the quilt reversible. The binding is truly one of my favorite fabrics. My daughter says that I say that a lot, but this one really is. It is from one of the early Smithsonian repro lines, and I still have a yard or so left. It's just a great brown.
Thank you to everyone who left comments on my posts, especially the one about the flannel quilt for my niece. I was really touched at all of the nice things that were written. Quilters are the best!





Saturday, October 9, 2010

Temecula

 
 I spent an hour last Saturday morning at Temecula Quilt Co (no pics)!  It's a great shop filled with eye-candy for repro quilt lovers.  Luck was with me, as the town was having an outdoor quilt show.  The plan was to drive down main street and view from the car, but quilts were calling - 'a picture's worth a thousand words'!