Thursday, April 21, 2011

Memory failure...

After posting the Ocean Wave quilt from Statesboro I decided to pull two of my OW quilts from my own collection. The memory failure wasn't when I went to look for them...it was how I remembered them! I had told several of you that my quilt had 1-1/2 and 2-1/2 inch hsts...well it is more like 1-1/4 and 3 inches. (And that my friends is why we do appraisals and documentation on our quilts!)
First is this turn of the century OW with the large "mostly" 3 inch HST. This came from Pennsylvania (doesn't it just scream it!) I purchased it in Gettysburg at a street fair in the early 90's.

It was definitely a "I love these fabrics" purchase. The mix of pinks with yellows, blues and blacks just makes me smile. Also, the maker wasn't too concerned about the dark and light placement. Sometimes that can make this pattern look very formal but when you ignore the pattern...fun. (repeat after me..."this does not have to be perfect"...just feel the stress leave your shoulders...)The second quilt was purchased in the same area of Pennsylvania around the same time. It is from the 1940's and uses a peach sateen cotton that still shows the pencil quilting marks. The hst measure 1-1/4 finished...we are talking tiny! I haven't had this quilt out in awhile and can honestly say I like it better now than when I bought it! Isn't that a great feeling!
The fabric choices have a rather modern feel...a bit like the Material Obsession books that I am drawn to right now. (check out the red polka dot in this quilt...I'm using lots of that right now!)

If you are thinking of making your own Ocean Waves quilt you may want to start at Bonnie Hunter's website, Quiltville.com, where she has a free pattern for one using 1-1/2 inch finished HST (of course that can be changed! Personally I am leaning towards the 2 inch like the Statesboro quilt!)
I was asked in my last post if my cats like quilts...of course. They also like to have their photos taken with the quilts. Can be quite a challenge to do quilt photos sessions!

14 comments:

AnnieO said...

Such different quilts and feelings from the two--totally wonderful, both of them. Thanks for sharing.

Me and My Stitches said...

Love both of the quilts - and the cat! Mine are always happy to be in my quilt pictures too!

Loris said...

Lovely! Dobby agrees :-) and the quilt looks even better with a cat on it! I love when my kitties bless my quilts!

Cathy said...

Both quilts are beautiful.

regan said...

I'm so glad you posted these pics! I was still deciding about doing an OW quilt for my son, and was looking at different pics of them. The top one really makes me want to do one now! I love the scappiness of it, and the haphazard placement of lights and darks.....that is totally me! I think I'm convinced! He's in the Navy, and I was wanting something with a water/sailing/nautical element to it.

I was in the process of doing a Mariner's Compass for him, and have 4 of the 12 compasses done.....but just don't have it in me to do any more! Those blocks will be a wall hanging now! lol

Merilyn said...

Beautiful old quilts, they still have their vibrancy!!! Cats are of course official 'quilt inspectors', so I've been told LOL!!!

Janet said...

They're wonderful quilts, I've been seeing a lot of ocean waves lately and it's a favourite pattern. All quilts need a cat sacn, lol.

Rocky Creek Scotties and Rocky Creek Ramblings said...

I love the peach and turqiousey one!! (I know that's a proper quilting term - LOL!)

Tonya Ricucci said...

love the first one - great colors. ooh, Dobby looks like a little panther.

MARCIE said...

What great quilts! I really love the top one with the gray borders. It is so Gettysbergish! There seems to be an optical illusion, at least to me, that make the gray blocks look smaller than the colored ones.

Janet said...

After your last 2 posts I am very tempted to start an OW quilt. I love them when they're done scrappy. I had better not... :0)

Purple Pam said...

Beautiful quilts. I can tell kitty is wanting a photo session!

sewprimitive karen said...

The Gettysburg is so beautiful and weren't they just using up the scraps on the Peach Sateen!!

Meredith said...

The quilts are great. I like the second one. I have been sitting on a bunch of vintage fabric waiting for something to use it all on and this might just be what I want to create. Thanks for sharing your quilts with us.

The first one has great use of color and it has calm colors.