More Old and New Comparisons

Yesterday a friend and I spent four hours going through two boxes of old fabric scraps and quilt blocks...one box was mine and one was hers!  We marveled at some of the fabrics we found that we remembered as having been reproduced.  First photo is from a log cabin quilt top that I am thrilled to own!  Sixty-four blocks of gorgeous fabrics in very good condition!  When I bought the top, I thought there had been a repair as I recognized the fabric design.  Well, when they are side by side, one can see the difference!  The old fabric seems to have a glaze.  The new fabric I think might have been made by Concord (someone correct me if they know otherwise!).  The repro has a navy ground instead of teal; the large red motif is similar but not exact; the old fabric has tiny flowers in pink and blue and two shades of green in the leaves, but the new one has only pink flowers with leaves in one shade only, rather dun-colored I would say.

 Two more blocks from the log cabin quilt......recognize any more as having been reproduced?  I think the long strip on the far right has been....either by Judie Rothermel or Jan Patek?

 Now that you can see a whole block, check out the construction technique.  It is a "regular" log cabin block with the contrasting lights and darks adjacent to each other.  But it is Made like a Courthouse Step block with the logs added opposite each other!  Interesting.............Instead of adding two lights or two darks on each round, the maker added one light and then one dark opposite.  Anyone else ever notice this log cabin contruction technique before?

  
On the right below is a reproduction stripe by Judy Roche and Corienne Kramer from the Peddlar's Pack line.  I lined it up with the original from a quilt fragment on the left.  Check out the other early fabrics! 

  The design in the shirting fabric below of little diamonds with 4 dots at each point is quite similar to the Indigo Berries fabric by Jo Morton!

Now we have a reproduction stripe done several years ago by Virginia Robertson lined up with its antique counterpart!  Stripes are the same size; colors are quite similar.  The new fabric feels wonderful but the old fabric feels a bit stiff and is thin; however, the colors are still great!

 Just remembered where to find the reproduction (to any Non-Quilter walking into my sewing room/fabric storage it looks like Chaos but I can usually find any fabric that I am seeking in a relatively short time!  Not every time, but usually!) in the photo below.  The reproduction fabric on the right is similar in scale and colors but they left out the blue!  Don't you think that is what made the fabric eye-catching?  I believe this fabric was from an old Christmas line by Judie Rothermel......maybe Christmas in Virginia or in Williamsburg?  


The red centers in this quilt appear to be a fine linen and aren't quite as bright as the photo portrays.

New Book, Leftovers, Broken Dishes and Toile

"Amish Quilts and the Welsh Connection"  

Received this wonderful new book this week!  Have looked at all the photos and read the captions and need to find time to read the rest!  If I didn't like to read so much, I might get more sewing done!  

 This little Courthouse Step quilt is a Jo Morton Club project.....wanted to show you what a member and I did with the leftover 1" strip scraps!

 Linda made the darling little bowl and I have tiny Four Patches in progress!
I like to try to make Somethin' from Nothin'.....little scraps that some folks throw away!  Linda is a Kindred Spirit!  I am one of those Fugal Sorts.....among the many things that I recycle are the little boxes that checks come in to store and sort fabric scraps!

 This is a little Broken Dishes quilt made from a charm pack and border fabrics from Barbara Brackman's "Civil War Crossings".........actually two quilts can be made from one charm pack!  I love little blocks (these are 3") and I love Busy Quilts with lots of color!  Machine-quilted the body of the quilt by stitching in the ditch and then hand-quilted the border with my favorite little wavy line.  Looks like I should go back and quilt something in the corner stones!  Takes me a long time to decide a quilt is finally Done!

 I used this black/white Toile as the center in a Medallion quilt that I showed earlier on.  (I have started hand-quilting it!)  A friend (a quilt historian)called me the other day and told me that my toile was on the cover of "Toiles for All Seasons".  I had the book but had not yet recognized the scenes as being in my reproduction fabric!  The original Toile was made after 1793 and was based on four paintings by two different artists depicting the four seasons of the year!

Friend's John Hewson quilt top finished!

With permission from both of my friends, I have some amazing work to share!

My Friend Susan made this John Hewson Winterthur quilt top and what a wonderful job she did!  Using her impressive mathematical skills and her Determination to Piece the top with no Fusing, she accomplished her Goal!  It was not easy and was frustrating at times and some fabric was wasted, but she persevered!  She got the fabric in Nov and showed me the top Dec 12 at one of our quilt study meetings!  Her speed is also impressive in addition to her workmanship!

This framed fabric art picture is hanging in my shop to showcase Barbara Martin's design and embroidery skills.  The embroidered details are amazing!  Each little tiny stone (cotton fabric) in the Wall is hand-appliqued!  Most of the fabrics are wool.

Old and New Comparison

A friend sold me this antique crib quilt many years ago and I tried to recreate it Long Before we had what we know as Reproduction Fabrics today!  There definitely were "fabrics that looked old" to me so I used them.....it was before Jan 1994 that I made this quilt.  The c.1830 quilt is a "cutdown" but not obvious at first. The chintz binding is on 3 sides and the top edge is folded and stitched down which is a combination we've seen many times in antique quilts we've documented here in Maine.  The first "cutdown" clue was that the chevron quilting lines in the center of the quilt did not always line up correctly.  Second clue was the very finely stitched center seam down the back of the quilt that was so well done, it was not noticed for a while!  I love to wonder why this was done.........was the quilt damaged along one side and the crib quilt salvaged from it?  The Cutdown was done a very long time ago.  It was a wonderful quilt when it was whole with its chintz border.....I've been told that the original color of the chintz print was in shades of rose. The handquilting is wonderful. I wonder if all the Flying Geese were of different prints as are the ones in these two strips.

 The following photos are from my copy of the quilt, using a few early Jinny Beyer prints and I see some from Judie Rothermel and I think from Jeff Gutcheon.  I used muslin for the background because probably a tan muslin was not yet known to me.  Maybe I ought to overdye with Rit tan to age it....we'll see.  I remember ordering the border fabric prior to Jan 1994 while my shop was still at my mother's house about 7 miles up the road.  I used the front 2 rooms of her cape for 3 years and then she told me I had to build a building as I was beginning to encroach on her living space!  I was so excited as it was the first fabric that I had found that looked, to me, like an antique chintz.  Sure am glad that situation has changed over the years!! The colors in the "chintz" closeup photo are pretty true to the original.  I enjoy making copies of old quilts.........my friend has another quilt that I copied........a late 19th century center medallion that we have hung together in shows.......that will be for another day!

It's been awhile........................

since I posted on my blog...........you know the drill......busy with holidays and family!  Tonight I'll show you two quilts (am experimenting with higher resolution photos hoping they will enlarge better, and now I think I also need to make the flash stronger!).  The Churn Dash is from quite a few years ago using Judie Rothermel's first Civil War line in late 1990's (some fabrics have been reproduced again recently)....one of my favorites and it was an experiment in using 6" charm squares for the blocks. 

Second quilt is a 16-Patch from one of Jo Morton's early Clubs.  It was the first quilt I machine-quilted that I was happy with my quilting!  And it was rather accidental!  I was quilting the straight lines and had lengthened my stitch as usual for quilting.  Then I noticed that my stitches were quite tiny.....my robe sleeve must have turned the stitch length dial on my machine...but hey!  I liked the look of the smaller stitches anyway!  So I took out the longer ones, knowing it would be very hard to take out these small stitches if I made a mistake.  Luckily, it worked out fine!

This last quilt top is one from a Prairie Women's Sewing Circle club that I decided to do in different colors.  First one, in blue and shirting, is pictured aways back the blog.  I love the color called "cheddar" and it looks great with the indigo blue!  I machine-quilted the first one but may hand-quilt this one....wish I could handquilt everything but it's not possible!  Today I spent part of my "day off" pin-basting 3 small quilts and am in the process of pin-basting my Gwen Marston-inspired toile center medallion...hard on my back to do it all at once!  I pin-baste my quilts on the dining room table (anchor small ones with masking tape and larger ones with bulldog clips along the edge of the table.)  Then, I either machine-quilt (mostly just in the ditch or straight lines across the blocks as might have been done "in the old days") OR machine-baste for handquilting.......seems like overkill to baste twice but I think it helps make my quilts nice and flat!  Quilter's Dream Request is my usual choice of batting but I also use Mountain Mist Blue Ribbon sometimes.

Small Quilts

I love making small quilts!  Especially Reproductions!  This is a doll-size version of a baby quilt from "Small Endearments" referenced by Kathie  a few days ago.  Can't remember the measurements of my quilt but the center Toile is about 12".  That Toile is one of my Favorites from "The Rising Sun" Smithsonian collection back in the mid 1990's!  There are SO MANY more wonderful reproductions available now than when I made that quilt!  And, I love to handquilt so that is how I spend my the quiet evenings.

This little quilt I made in the early to mid 1990's after "Miniature Quilts" magazine and books were first published.  Might be able to study the fabrics to determine just when!  This little quilt is also a "Charm Quilt" having 99 different fabrics.....well 101 if you count the borders!  Charm Quilts are Another Favorite of mine and I will get photos of my 3 old tops (I have more tops than quilts!).

Maine Variable Star Quilt c.1820

This quilt from my small collection is c.1820 and recently returned home after a showing at New England Quilt Museum in Lowell MA of Maine quilts.  The quilt is huge.....too large for my double bed.  For its age, the fabrics seem in remarkably good condition!  There are splits in some of the chintzes here and there and the binding is worn, but it doesn't detract from the beauty of those

glorious fabrics!  Lots of ombres!  The handquilting is very good.  There have been a few tasteful repairs which were done before I bought it several years ago....don't like the glaring white block in the center of the photo!

 

This chintz is the alternating block and I think you can see the handquilting.....

This last photo is one of the light setting triangles....sheen from the chintz is still visible.  Many of the fabrics in this quilt are chintz and I will always wonder how a woman in early 19th century Maine acquired such a large collection of them!!