Antique Quilts

Janet of Quiltsalott and Kathie of Inspired by Antique Quilts have recently blogged about starting a red and green Baltimore style appliqué quilt called Mary Mannakee and they have invited others to accompany them. I am so tempted to join them in their journey simply because of the history and beauty of this quilt but I know that my appliqué skills are no where near the skill level needed and I doubt that I’d be able to keep up. But we’ll see.

I just ♥ antique quilts. At last count, I have about 25 that I’ve had the good fortune to find in my travels over time. I also feel blessed to have been afforded the opportunity to give them a temporary home until such time that they’re passed on to someone else after I’m gone.

After red and white quilts, red and green quilts are my next favorites. The two that I have are in relatively good condition, given their approximate age which I’ve been told is over 100 years.

Some of the red squares on this quilt are a little worn but it certainly does not detract from its simplistic beauty.

The hand quilting is intricate and absolutely gorgeous. Can you make out the tulip inside the feather wreath?

This is another of my red and green quilts. As with most older quilts, they were created out of necessity rather than for their beauty. This quilt is in exceptional condition but is somewhat faded from age and use.

The hand quilting is beautiful as well.

This red and white bow tie quilt is another one of my favorites. The red color has faded only slightly over the years and apart from that, it too is in great condition.

The hand quilting is simple but beautiful.

Another red and white beauty… and hand quilted in the Baptist fan pattern.

I have many others neatly folded in my quilt cupboard and I try to air them out and refold them as often as possible. I feel their original purpose was functionality and they definitely get lots of gentle use in my home. I switch them out on my beds at least once a month and try to coordinate the colors and patterns with the season or holiday.

It is really difficult for me to pass up an antique quilt. However, since I’ve started to make my own quilts, I have become a bit more selective with my purchases. That being said, if I had to make a choice between ‘old’ or new, without even batting an eyelash, my choice would be old and loved.

What about you? What would your choice be?

Happy stitching!

Kaaren ♥

Pumpkin Tutorial – Crazy Quilt Style!

I’ve been thinking about making one of these pumpkins for a while so on Friday I decided to stop procrastinating, bite the bullet and got down to business. I made a list of everything that I needed, gathered it all together and started the Great Pumpkin Journey.

By day’s end, this is what I found in my pumpkin patch…a pumpkin of course…crazy quilt style!

So if you’d like to follow along to see how I made this little guy, grab a cup of your favorite beverage, pull up a chair and join me on my Great Pumpkin Journey.

You’ll need 10 – 6 1/2” squares of fabric.

I didn’t have 10 different orange-y fabrics so I duplicated 2 of them. The ones in the upper tier are for a second pumpkin…when I get around to it.

You will also need a template. I made mine on a piece of computer printer paper simply because it was easier to copy that way.

Below is a photo of the one I drew. It is a 6 1/2” square with a line drawn from one side to the other but not centered and on a slight angle. Then there are two lines drawn on either side of this line, once again not centered and on different angles. Where you place these lines will determine the shape of your ‘patches’. Use my template below as a guide. Make a photocopy of your template as you will need two of them. I used the ‘copy’ feature on my printer to do this. Trim off the outside edges on both copies so all that remains is an intact, 6 1/2” square.

Separate the 10 – 6 1/2” squares of fabric into 2 piles of 5 each then place one paper template on top of each of the stacks. Align the layers of fabric and the templates to form a neat stack.

The lines are your cutting lines. Starting with the center line and using your rotary cutter, cut across this line and through all layers of fabric. Cut through all of the lines and repeat this step for the second stack of fabric. Discard the bits paper.

Stack the two piles on top of one another with like shapes matching.

Randomly stagger the order of the fabrics in each pile so that they are not in the same sequence within each pile.

Each of the two sets of 3 pieces on either side of the center line are worked on separately. Starting on the left side, sew two pieces together and repeat this for all ten layers in those same two stacks. Chain piecing makes this step go quite quickly.

If you chain pieced, snip the connecting thread that is holding them together and iron the seams open.

Note: Every seam in this project is ironed open.

As is the style with crazy quilts, I elected to do a decorative feather stitch, centered on the top and in the center of each sewn seam. This is the reason why all of the seams are ironed open…to facilitate the sewing of the decorative stitch across an evenly distributed seam allowance.

Sew the third piece to the other two…

and iron the seam open. Add your decorative stitch to the right side of this seam.

Square off the center seam line only.

Repeat this exact procedure for the three pieces on the other side.

Join the two sides together and iron the seam open.

Don’t forget to add the decorative stitching on the top of the joined seam. Repeat this step to make 10 blocks in total.

Square off each block to 4 1/2”

Make two rows with five blocks in each row. Play with the blocks until you get a sequence that you like. I tried to make sure that no two of the same fabrics lined up side by side…but if it happens, who cares? It’s a crazy quilt!

Sew the five blocks together in each row and then sew the two rows together. Remember to iron each seam open and to add the decorative stitching on the top of each new seam.

With right sides together, sew the short ends to form a tube.

Turn the tube right side out. Iron the seam open and add the decorative stitch to this seam as well.

With doubled thread, sew a running stitch approximately 1/4” in from the outer edge and around the the entire perimeter of the bottom.

Gather together and fasten off.

Turn right side out.

Stuff with fiberfill. Sew a running stitch around the top edge in the same manner as you did for the bottom and gather it towards the center. Do not fasten off yet.

Insert a branch into the center for the stem, easing it down as far as you can, then fasten off the gathering thread.

Note: For the stem, I just went into my garden and found a branch that had fallen from a tree and cut it to the appropriate size.

Cut two 12” pieces of grapevine wire (I purchased mine at Michael’s some time ago) and wrap each around a dowel or pencil to make them look like tendrils. If you can’t locate the grapevine wire, any wire will do, including florist’s wire.

Add a drop of glue to each of the ends and gently ease them into the center of the pumpkin on either side of the stem.

Tie some raffia around the stem, add some wool leaves with a drop of glue and there you have it…a crazy quilt pumpkin…all finished and ready to compliment your Fall decor.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Edit: Yesterday I completed a companion pumpkin with ‘primitive’ style fabrics. The only thing different is I chose to omit the decorative top stitching.

Don’t they make a happy couple? ♥

Happy stitching!

Kaaren ♥

4th of July Giveaway Winners!

It’s the 3rd of July and I just did the random number generator thing and here’s what it came up with…

After adding in the additional chances and then having to split the entries into the appropriate columns for the items that were requested, the winners are as follows…

The sewing box goes to Darlene of Quilting Daze.

The needlecase will find a new home at Jacki’s.The pillow is just waiting to be adopted by Lee Hill Primitives.

The reproduction utensil box will live happily ever after at Carrie P’s.

Congratulations, gals!  I know that all my creations will be happy in their new homes.  Could you please email me with your snail mail addresses so I can get your goodies packed up and sent off to you?

Thanks to everyone who took the time to play along.  Thanks also for stopping by and I hope that you’ll come back soon…and often…because you just never know when the giveaway bug might bite me again.

Happy 4th everyone…wherever you may be!

Kaaren ♥

Needlecases – Part Two…and Three!

Yesterday was a holiday in Canada…Canada Day. Everything was closed tighter than a drum and the weather wasn’t the greatest. Although it didn’t rain, the skies remained overcast and there were rumblings of thunder all day. Sew…I mean, so…what did I do? I sewed!

I completed the basting of my 150 pathway hexagons that I cut out on Monday (see my previous post) and now I am ready to proceed with the fourth row of my Grandmother’s Flower garden quilt. I’ll probably start on that later today.

Leanne, who was my Easter swap partner, and I still continue to swap. We swap things that we have difficulty finding in our respective countries, Australia and Canada. Not too long ago, an idea came to me and I asked Leanne if she would send me some Australiana fabric, which she so graciously did.

The fabric is Aboriginal and is so colorful and different. Click on the photo and you’ll see what I mean by different. Cool, huh?

So this is what I did yesterday.

I made a needlecase. The blue wool in the centre is called ‘duffle’ and comes from northern Labrador. This woolen fabric is used by the Canadian Inuit Aborigines (Eskimos) to make their winter clothing…including their ‘duffle’ coats. The ‘duffle’ is thick but very soft. One of the gals from my Tuesday night stitching group is from Goose Bay, Labrador and the last time she went home to visit her family, she brought some back for me. Thank you again, Marjorie!

A place to hold more needles and pins.

And more pockets for other goodies on the back inside cover.

But I had lots of fabric left over so did I stop there?

Not a chance! I made another one…

And another one! I figured I’d just keep on going til I ran out of fabric.

Actually I do have a plan for each of these needlecases but I can’t speak about it here. You just never know who might be reading this. (wink)

Happy stitching!

Kaaren ♥