Red and Green II

Here's another of my favorites from the Amercian Quilt Study Red and Green Exhibit. I thought you'd prefer this to another pic of my Colorado quilt. I'm done with the pieced blocks and am sewing rows together. Next, hundreds of QST's for rick rack border.

Poison Green, Part One

Here is a short stack of quilts from the living room. The one on top was an internet purchase. I really like the churn dash/monkey wrench block, and I Love poison green. This is the color that I would like to find for the Indigo Nine Patch I mentioned in an earlier post. Here's the nearly full view. And another view of it folded.

Hand Quilting Primer

I pieced this quilt while going thru a kitchen remodel. I wanted to sew to escape the turmoil, but didn't want to make any more decisions. So, I joined an internet mystery quilt. This quilt has been waiting quite a few years (maybe 6) to become my hand quilting primer. I hand quilted years ago using a style all my own (which was detrimental to my thumb). So, I'm learning all over again. Last November I decided the time was right. I had quilted about an hour the first day when my son called asking me to join them ice-skating at the pond. Within half an hour I had a broken right wrist and the quilt was back on the shelf. Hand quilting is a slowww process!

The Quilt on My Bed

Even though I've been a quilter for nearly 20 years, we usually have a comforter on our bed. Without air conditioning (even though it has been a cool summer), I took that off and put on this quilt. As I looked at the label, (yes, this one actually got one) I noticed that the date was 9/1/96. So, this one is approaching it's birthday. Wow, I just can't believe that I made this so long ago. At that time, we lived in the All-American two story with a front porch. I wanted something summery looking, and since the rail fence was a favorite, I made this. While I probably wouldn't sew this quilt today, I still have a soft spot for the little florals in it.

The colors in the detail shot are most accurate, but I wanted to include a nearly full view. The green triangles and border are made of an early Judie Rothermel thirties print. It has faded quite a bit, especially on the two opposite sides. This quilt didn't have much direct sun, but you wouldn't know it. Doesn't it seem as if the old quilts hold their color better? I look at the vintage quilts every chance that I get, and very few have faded. Still, this one is soft and snuggly, and just the right weight for summer sleeping.

Red and Green

I was fortunate to make it to the last hour of the last day of the American Quilt Study 'Red and Green' exhibit in Bloomington, IN. This quilt was a stand-out! What a beauty. I wrote the quiltmaker's name on a scrap of paper, but that's nowhere to be found. I surfed the net (no success), but found this site displaying 19 quilts from the collection. I apologize for the lack of info on this stunning piece. Enjoy!

Indigoes

Haven't had any real time to sew this week because we have company. I thought that I would share my next possible project. This scrumptious nine-in-nine patch is from the book, "The Ultimate Quilting Book" by Maggi McCormich Gordon. And, no, you are not seeing double. The quilt on the left is a reproduction of this quilt, and is from Quilter's Newsletter Magazine, in the July 2005 issue. I've been thinking of reproducing it myself with DeGama indigoes rather than indigo repros. The one in QNM was done in what looks to be Judie Rothermel blues. It looks just wonderful, but if I can find a really nasty bilious green like the original, I think that the contrast with the DeGama true indigoes would be smashing. Don't you? Btw, the book and magazine are lying on a bed in a spare bedroom. You can see that I have pulled the indigoes that I have (not many), and a nice yellow/green. It is a great piece, but just not yellowy enough. I suppose I could crank out a few nine patchs with the scraps that I have, and see how it looks.

Just for comparison, this little doll quilt is made from the DeGama indigoes and a repro shirting. It is on a little twig doll bed in the same spare bedroom. The little bear is mohair, and jointed so he really is a cutie, I think. The pillow I bought this way. It is just a piece from an old coverlet, and it is another favorite.

Colorado

You saw the start of this quilt last week. I'm about half done with the Colorado blocks. They piece up quickly - 8 hst and 4 flying geese. I'm using a quick piece method for both units. The hst method yields 8 units from one set of 5" squares - lots less cutting, too. I chain piece 5 blocks at a time. I'm sewing the alternate constant block to the right side of the pieced block as I go.

I'm planning on a pieced rick-rack border to transition from the pieced center to the outer border. I had enough of the alternate fabric to do a 4 patch checkerboard, but now that I've changed to the rick-rack border, I'll have to pick another fabric from stash. The blue strip is auditioning for the rick-rack band. The brown strip is a definite for the rick-rack/outer border.

I think I like this rick-rack combo better. If I'm going to all the trouble of sewing hundreds of qst, I want the border to stand out.

It's not a good idea to research border options in antique quilt books - I've added at least two quilts to the 'list'!