Mailman brought Goodies today!

The Mailman brought me all these Goodies today!  The book about Toiles is new from the V&A in England.........wonderful study book with detailed closeups of the fabrics.  The "Uncoverings" book is the collection of the research papers read a couple weeks ago at the American Quilt Study Group's annual seminar.....this year in MN.  Next year it will be closer in NJ!  A friend did a paper on "Potholder" quilts so I took the day off (between customers!) and read her paper and looked at all the photos in the Toile book!  On the right are the diamond template and pattern collection #1 from Ann Holte in PA who is doing a reproduction of a quilt made about 1860.  Each block is different and very scrappy!  Read about the quilt in QuiltMania #78!  Hope I can make a practice block tomorrow along with making Applesauce and cooking squash to freeze, work on a Civil War Legacies quilt kit sample, pin-baste two Jo Morton quilts, try to find shelf space to store the new fabrics that have been arriving and maybe even clean a little bit!  Be sure to click on the photo to enlarge it so you can see the PA quilt pattern better!  Clicking twice is even better!!

Leaders and Enders

I've been cutting 1.5" squares from scraps and strips for quite a while and now they are piling up nicely! Using them and "Leaders and Enders" when sewing. Alternate squares are Jo Morton's background fabric from her "Crimson and Clover" line......a nice light that has faint lines to simulate "linen" or "homespun". I have been making them into little 5" Twenty-Five Patch blocks from Judie Rothermel's "Reproduction Quilts from the Civil War Era" seen in the photo. Of course, I have to be "different"!! Her blocks (inspired by a single little block she purchased) each contain only one fabric with the light...........mine contain 13 different prints alternating with the light! I am not the fastest quiltmaker in the world so it is nice to be able to occasionally make a "free" quilt that just happens!!

This is a not-very-good photo of the whole quilt. Measures 51" x 64" and likely contains 3000 or so different fabrics.  You will laugh when I tell you this.......I first made the little quilt that has 63 squares and I quilted it with no batting, as the antique quilts often were.  Thinking that would be good for the larger quilt, I pin-basted it together (320 pins) and began quilting (no hoop, tho I usually use one).  Did not like the feel of the quilt (felt empty, not cuddly), so I took out the 320 pins, layered with Quilter's Dream Request batting, and re-pinned the 320 pins!!  Then I was happier with it!!  Photo is from MaineQuilts2010.  View all the quilts in the show here.

Log Cabin Header

Finally got around to choosing a photo for my "header"!  It is from a log cabin quilt I finished this spring ......blocks are about 3" with 1/4" "logs".  I saw one in the Wenham Museum (Wenham, Massachusetts) in 2005 and fell in love with it.  Worked on it off and on for 5 years.  Here is a close-up one of of the blocks.  The quilt contains 320 blocks.  Instead of ties in the red centers, I handquilted around them.  The quilt was so cuddly as I quilted on it!