Category: 100 Quilts

100 Quilts · Quilts

Project Gingham!!

Elizabeth E.16 Comments

A long time ago, in a galaxy garage sale faraway, Elizabeth found a whole lotta’ gingham.  She shared with Krista, who really likes vintage fabrics.  Then we hatched the idea to share with a few others. And today’s the day everyone is sharing with us, but first–my reveal!

I’ve titled this quilt: Gingham Quilt.  Really original, but certainly it has to get points for being descriptive, doesn’t it?  I auditioned a lot of different block ideas, and then decided that just about anything would work with these prints, especially a lot of white.  I know some of the checks get in the way of the bow-tie, but I wanted this to be a fun, summery quilt, without freaking out about anything.  So there you go—some things you just live with and love.

I had seen in a Roberta Horton book that she had used a different fabric for the outside blocks in order to create a border, and I wanted to try that too.  I picked up the cool lavender almost randomly, wanting it so it wouldn’t intrude on the crisp white in the middle of the quilt.  A slight shift, only, in that border, and I tried to use many of the darker ginghams to highlight that shift.

Detail of the quilting, which is a spool of thread and a needle.  My quilter Cathy always has a great design for me.

Two glamour shots of the quilt.  I wanted to show one of my favorite ginghams–one not likely ever seen again in today’s mass market.  It’s that true lavender in the middle of the quilt.

I left this picture bigger so you could click on it for detail.  This is made with (deep memory, here, from my CloTex degree) a dobby loom.  The word comes from the early days of fabric manufacture, when a little boy would sit on top of the loom and pull up individual warp (or lengthwise) yarns so the weft (crosswise or selvage-to-selvage) shuttle could glide across and make a design.  Dobby is short for “draw boy,” or so the rumor goes.

If you look closely on the back, you can see white yarns (threads) that are carried across the back, and create the design on the front.  The floating yarns are the tip-off to which side you are looking at. A lappet is another type of machine but it’s my understanding that the lappet can only do one direction of thread, whereas in this design both the warp and the weft are involved.  Like I said, we aren’t likely to see this fabric ever again.

Label.

I chose a Jane Sassaman print for the back, and not only because I got a bunch of it for a deal when I went up to Michael Levine’s in Los Angeles, in the garment district, but more because it seemed to be in the mood of the front.

I think of this as the quilt for a picnic, for throwing down on a meadow somewhere and pulling out a wicker basket, kitted out perfectly with gourmet feastiness.  Right.  Not my life.  In reality, I think of the time I went up and took my then 4th-grade daughter out to lunch. . . on the front lawn of the school.  We got a lot of crazy looks from the gardeners and the kindergarteners as we enjoyed our sauteed pepper-and-onion sandwiches, just the two of us, with moms picking up kids in the school’s driveway just three feet away.  It’s a great memory; it’s that kind of a picnic quilt.

Now hop on over to the other blogs and see their Project Gingham reveals!

Krista, of KristaStitched

Cindy, of Live A Colorful Life

Rachel of The Life of Riley

Suz, of PatchworknPlay

Kris, of Duke Says Sew What

Becky, the Sarcastic Quilter

100 Quilts · Family Quilts · Quilts · WIP

WIP–Roses and Doll Quilts

Elizabeth E.5 Comments

I brought along my third block of the rose window block series — still working on it — but I think a friend of mine wants to try doing this too, as she’s a “Band Mom” and needs something to keep her hands busy while she whiles away those long hours at competitions.  Good luck, Lisa!

Before we left, I was also able to finish a series of doll quilts for my son’s daughters: Emilee, Megan, Brooke and Danielle.  Their mother Kim got them the most adorable doll beds for their dolls for Christmas, and I’d been wanting to make them little quilts ever since I returned home.

Somewhere along the way, I had purchased Moda Candy Bars, which area pack of four stacks of fabric (measuring 2 1/2″ by 5″) and while I liked having the variety of pieces, I had no idea what to do with them.

One little stack makes the perfect-sized doll quilt.  I was thinking I’d do four different quilts, but ended up with three different patterns (the two on the top are the same–a variant of rail fence).

I tied them up with some silky double-faced satin ribbons (hair bows for my granddaughters?) and sent them off before we left to our Spring Break vacation.

I hope these girls like them!

Many thanks to Lee, for hosting us on her website, Freshly Pieced, every Wednesday.  Return there to see what others are working on.

100 Quilts · Finishing School Friday

Be My Valentine

Elizabeth E.10 Comments

Okay, I know I’m late.  Late for Valentine’s Day.  But better late than never, right? Another entry into Friday Finishing School.  In fact, today I have two!mini-love-quilt

I finished sewing down the binding on my LOVE mini quilt–here it is!  Okay, on to the red and white.

be-my-valentine

Be My Valentine, Quilt #94

I threw a color catcher into the washer to catch the red dye–obviously I needed two, judging by the fact that the little ladies now have a light pink background instead of a white background.  It’s interesting how some of the whites were tinted pink and others were not.  Go figure.

The back.

I wanted something fun for the label, so I cut out a piece of fabric from the front, and printed onto that. It really is squared up.  Ignore the photo.

Beauty shot of the quilting on the front.  I used a thicker thread–King Tut, because I wanted those circles to stand out.  I have to say I really like quilting with Superior Thread’s King Tut.  And I buy my thread from them, just like everyone else does.  No, they are not a sponsor.  Yes, we are having a giveaway but only because I like their product.  I also use the Guterman that I get on a 50% off coupon at  the big box fabric store, but I’ve only really been happy with that for piecing, not for quilting the top.  (And no, I don’t buy into that myth about polyester thread “cutting” the cloth.)  I have also used Sulky on occasion, but sometimes I don’t like the shiny look of the polyester, and head back to the cottons.  Some quilts call for one kind of thread, other quilts call for other threads.

And on the back I used Superior’s Bottom Line thread in white. How did I ever start using this?  It was when I was sewing my Empty Nest, Full Life quilt, and I just couldn’t get the threads to balance properly with their locking of the stitch in between the front and the back.  I think I had purchased a spool of Bottom Line at the last quilt show I’d gone to and in desperation, wound it onto the bobbin to try.  It’s a lighter weight thread, and I think Heather (Mother Superior, as she is known on the website) told me that a lot of show quilters used it because they could more densely quilt their quilts.  That fact didn’t sway me at all (you know how much I hate densely quilted quilts), but the fact that I didn’t have loopy loops or pulled threads to the front did convince me it was something to have around.  I loosen the tension on the top a little, sometimes a lot.  Then I write that on a post-it note and keep it near the machine for when I have to come back to it.  Generally, with a thicker thread on top, I lower it by one full point–from a 4.0 to a 3.0.

So I tend to use it always in the bobbin.  I’ve always wanted to try it in hand piecing, as it is as fine as silk.  Some day.  There you go–two Friday Finishes!

100 Quilts · Family Quilts

Doll Quilt

Elizabeth E.4 Comments

The girls watch a movie under their new quilt

Last night I pulled out some Moda Candy Bar stacks, fed up as I was with convalescing.  Sometimes you just have to sew something.

I was thinking about that Sticks and Stones pattern, so cut some of the 2 1/2 x 5″ strips into half, then sewed them onto the existing strips.  I tried to count so it would come out somewhat even.

I decided to flip them: every other row would have the “stone” part on the bottom.  I sewed them together, trying to be careful of my gimpy leg (which I’m tired of being careful about.  Let’s just say I am not a very good sick person.).

After sewing the top together, I did the pillowcase method of layering backing (face up), top (face down), then the batting, then sewing around the edges.  I clipped the corner at a diagonal to get rid of the excess, then turned it and stitched the opening closed.  Quilting just off the seam vertically, with a couple of crosswise quilting lines finished it off.

One doll quilt for a granddaughter–done.  I have six granddaughters still in doll-playing mode.  Five more to go.  But not until I recover a little more, according to the doctor today.  Lay around more, he says.  Rest–stay on the bed.  So I guess I’ll do as the dolls above are doing and watch a few more movies.

Or better yet — I’ll go and read all your fabulous WIP projects on today’s linky page, hosted by Lee of Freshly Pieced Fabrics.  See?  I feel better already, knowing I have an adventure waiting for me.  Many thanks to Lee for hosting us all on WIP Wednesday.