Saturday, June 9, 2012

Finally, Some Piecing!

There's been alot of antique quilt inspiration for me lately.  Long dry spell with no sewing, but a quilt from the Elizabeth Richardson quilt exhibit in Bowling Green, KY inspired me to ignore the long list of 'projects in flight'.  My garbled notes needed to be deciphered quickly while still fresh in my mind's eye.  It's been refreshing moving out of my Civil War repro comfort zone - the antique quilt is c 1840.  Fun digging thru stash to find fabric appropriate to the time period - I seldom use solids (and never muslin). 
The quilt has a deep mid-scale border and I found the perfect fabric at Whittle's not one hour after leaving the exhibit.  The time period of the border fabric is later (1876), but the color and scale are a match.  The constant alternate was from stash - Judie Rothermel Old Sturbridge Village Collection.  I'm half done with the pinwheels!

  


Jan and I visited the Quilter's Hall of Fame in Marion, IN to see the antique PA quilts from the collection of Pat and Arlan Christ. 

What a wonderful border on this quilt, c 1890, from the Kreider Estate of Lancaster Co.


And look at this backing fabric!  I'll take six yards, please.


This crib quilt, Sunbonnet Lassies made by Marie Webster, was featured in Ladies Home Journal, Aug. 1912.  It was inspired by the Sunbonnet Babies book illustrations by Bertha Corbett.  The quilting includes picket fences and flying birds. 

Hope there's alot of quilt inspiration influencing you!

10 comments:

Janet O. said...

Wonderful stuff! Love the corners on that zigzag border--and get some of that backing fabric for me, too!

Randy D. said...

Those antique quilts are so inspiring!!

Vivian said...

Heavy duty inspiration on your post today, and I spotted a favorite word --> Whittle's. I'm never disappointed with my trips to their website. Don't you just love shopping for fabric you didn't know you needed till you saw it?
I agree with you about that backing. I'm drooling, just looking at it.

Cynthia@wabisabiquilts said...

Very nice antique quilts - always Inspiring. Thanks for posting!

ann hermes said...

A zigzag border can make any quilt fabulous. I love this one.

Lori said...

Lovely quilts!

Dawn said...

love your newsest project - great fabric choices. Thanks for the pictures from the exhibits.
Sounds like great fun to go to Whittles in person.

The Civil War Quilter said...

Those quilts were great! Your new project is wonderful. The border fabric is perfect.

Barb said...

First the pinwheels are terrific! I love the plain blocks and especially the eagle print!!!!
and second, how great that you got to see the Christ collection. Aren't they they nicest people? I've seen some of their quitls in PA - amazing!

Taryn said...

I really like the early 1800's quilts but find them really challenging to reproduce. There is something about the softness of the colors that is very hard to capture with a new repro.