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!!

The Hewson Fabrics are here and they are wonderful!!

The Winterthur Museum John Hewson Fabrics by Andover Fabrics arrived last week and they are wonderful!!!  Can't wait to start making a Medallion Quilt with them!  The quality of the fabric is stupendous!  The vase shown above is about 21" high and the floral below (see the little "corner" which is how the floral spray will be placed in a corner to tilt diagonally toward the center vase?) is about 17" high.....will probably applique in place using broderie perse if I can't figure out a way to piece it in.  There are butterflies galore to leave in place or applique by broderie perse wherever you desire!  The accompanying background fabric is the same fabric Winterthur and Jo Morton have both used before.....a faint linen-look appearance with a wonderful "hand".  Google "John Hewson" to find antique quilts using his prints made in Philadelphia beginning in the 1770's.  Many are in musems and will provide inspiration for you to make one of your own!!

Vintage Charm Quilt

 This is a small charm quilt I made several years ago using vintage triangles given to me by a quilting friend.  They belonged to her mother and are from c. 1900.  Those claret (purpley-red) fabrics were popular in the 1890's.  There are a couple "Neons" also from the 1890s"s.  All in all it is a good representation of the fabrics available at the time....no two fabrics alike....that is what makes it a charm" quilt!  I think in today's quilting world, people believe "charms" to just be small size squares.....which they can be of course....but need to all be different!!  I think the oldest fabric to be the blue/brown floral chintz (still retains glaze) shown below in the close-up.  I was fortunate to have other period fabrics to use for the backing/binding.  Each triangle is about 3-1/2" tall and I did have to re-size them to make it all go together well!