Circa 1930 Quilt

Giving new life to an orphan -

Quilt as it is unloaded from the longarm.

At least that's what Linda Taylor says to think about when you machine quilt a "found" orphan quilt top. I always cringe when someone tells me they bought a quilt for $5 at a garage sale - the family selling it not understanding the amount of  hard earned money the material cost, or how many untold hours it took to complete. For this one, I picture the family watching the quilt being made - the painstaking hours of cutting out small remnants of fabric and then the piecing it together, bit by bit, with the hope that one of them would someday have the pleasure of warming themselves with it during cold nights. But then a tragedy occurs and the quilter is no longer with them. They have no idea how to finish the quilt, but they hang on to it, remembering their loved one in the process. Then, many years later, it is found in an old trunk, and the finder doesn't even know who did the work. The original family is long gone, and no one seems to know anything about it, so gives it to goodwill, where someone picked it up one day and said wow - what a find!!

Back of the quilt.

 This one was purchased at the Houston Quilt Market a few years ago. Now, previous to Linda making her statement at a workshop I thoroughly enjoyed, I would have been shaking in my shoes to take a machine to a hand pieced quilt that was this old, but I considered what she said, and tried to give honor to that loved person who took such time to hand cut and piece this intricate design. I cannot imagine how many hours it took - there are so many small triangles!!! The quilter must have also run out of the original green, since the border areas have a darker green hexagon than the body, and had to make due. That's what makes our quilts special - each one has its own unique characteristics.

A Closer look.

With all this in mind, most of the work I put into this quilt cannot be seen. I felt the original quilter would have most likely hand quilted a crosshatch pattern through all those triangles, so a stitch in the ditch was used in those areas. The result was a diamond pattern that is best seen on the back of the quilt.


For the center green hexagons, I wanted to give the quilt a little more character, but still keep it simple, so a very plain flower was placed in these areas.

My hope is the original quilter is looking down from heaven and smiling, pleased that her hard work has been given a good home and is at last completed.

Chain of Fools

I have also finally finished my "Chain of Fools" quilt, so here it is. It's always good to complete a project!!

That's it for now. Until next time, happy quilting!
Cathy

Verse for the day: "The heart is more deceitful than anything else and is desperately sick; who  can understand it? I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds." (Jer. 17:9-10)

Carol's Stars

Before quilting

When this blue and yellow quilt was brought to me, Carol told me the pattern was supposed to form circles, but neither of us could see them. The top of the quilt is shown at right as it was draped over my machine (with a few sticky notes attached to remind me of what I planned once the quilt is loaded.) The pink contrasting stars are a "cancer awareness" reminder.

colored pencil sketch to help me think

Often,  I draw the quilts out on graph paper so that I can play a bit and get my creative juices going. When I drew this one out, the circles really popped out at me, so I sketched them in and started playing with some possible patterns.


This really looked like a wedding ring quilt in my drawing, and I had to stare at the actual quilt for a while to allow the pattern to set into my mind.

finished quilt

Once I had the pattern fixed in my head with a few ideas going, I loaded the quilt and got to work. I did the circles first, since the remainder of the patterns would depend on them. These were very large circles - I think 26" - so I had to do them as 1/2 circles to fit into my throat space.












When all the large circles were complete, patterns were placed into the shapes formed by the overlapping circles.

circular pattern detail

My quilts usually evolve as I work, since they seldom end up like I thought they would when I began. Line patterns were designed to fit into the outlined areas, and, in this case, I felt some background fill was needed around the star areas, so I used a pebble pattern.

"Pillow" area

star detail

back of quilt

"Chain of Fools" on my design wall

This quilt took me a while to complete, but I really like the finished look, and I hope you do too.



On another note, my "Chain of Fools" quilt is coming along. I cannot even begin to count the number of times I have had to take things apart because I got the triangles turned the wrong direction, but I think I am about two thirds of the way done!




That's it for now. Until next time, happy quilting!!!

Cathy

Verse for the day: "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unaware." (Heb 13:2)

Chain of Fools

A Change of Pace

pieces of the puzzle

The summer seems to be the only time I find some time to work on my own quilting projects, as the school year responsibilities come to a halt. That's what I get for over-committing myself!!! Anyway, thought I would start a few blogs on my own projects just for fun. Currently, I am working on one called "Chain of Fools". I am having fun putting lots of colored pieces together, with lots of 1/2 square triangles and flying geese. I am trying to get all the puzzle pieces to come together - at least that's what it feels like I am doing! (In fact, I'm thinking maybe it's called "Chain of Fools" because only a fool would even begin the project!)


So far, I have four of the blocks assembled, and it is slow going. Right now, my lights are out above my work table, and my not-so-handy, but willing husband has not been able to fix things, so we are waiting for an electrician.

putting the puzzle together

That's it for now. I am still doing lots of long-arming, and will hopefully have an interesting one for you soon!
Until next time, happy quilting!
Cathy

Verse for the day: "Seek the LORD and His strength; seek His face always." (I Chronicles 16:11)