On a binding roll and a new to me!

I'm trying to stay focused on my 2013 list so last night I started work on my next set of bindings.  The first is my Material Obsessions quilt.

I auditioned lots of fabrics.  I really thought I was going to use either a red or bright green but in the end I liked the look of this blue check the best.  The color may be neutral with this quilt but the checks cut on the bias have a great texture.  They are right up there with striped bindings in my book!

Also I got a "new-to-me" quilt in the mail.   If you have read this blog for any length of time you know how much I love a cup of caffeine...coffee, tea, hot chocolate...whatever!  So I have wanted a cup quilt... preferably vintage for quite some time.  Now I have one!

This came from Oklahoma and was made in the 1940's.  The quilting is a bit primitive but I like it!  Of course having so many fabrics and that much red what isn't to like!

May Mystery Quilt Finish!

Not even the middle of the month and I have a finish on the calender!!! (and already cat tested and approved!)

With a little help from a friend I go the binding on my Orca Bay...this is a big quilt!  I really like the black binding on it.  Usually I like a pop of color or a stripe on the binding but the center of the quilt is so busy that I used and almost solid.  Orca Bay was Bonnie Hunter's  Mystery Quilt in 2011 (?) ...not recent but not too long ago!

BTW...if you are a Bonnie Hunter fan you want to be at my guild's show this October 11 and 12th!  Bonnie used to be a member of our guild (before she moved up to North Carolina) so with her permission we are doing a display of quilts made by guild members inspired by Bonnie!  Looks like we will have over 30 quilts as part of the display!  And yes, my Orca Bay will be one of them.  Think we will have at least one of her last four mysteries!  Our show is at the North Augusta Activities Center, 100 Riverview Park Drive, North Augusta, SC  29841.

Blue Scarf...

Sometimes it feels good to work on some of the smaller projects.

A few years ago I made several pieced scarves...saved one and gave the others to sisters and friends at Christmas.  I'm not sure why but this blue one was never finished.  Guess I was through my scarf phase!

 It has some great fabrics (including some hand-printed indigo and men's suiting) in it though so I decided to finish it up and give it to the American Quilt Study Group for the silent auction in September.

And good news...the machine part of the binding on Orca Bay is done...now I just need to put a movie in the DVD player and get to hand-stitching it down.  Definitely could have this big project done by the end of May!

Squaring up blocks

The most terrifying step in quilting is the final squaring up of applique blocks....

A long time ago I made 16 Baltimore Album blocks...the third one I squared up I cut it one inch too small...there was no way I could make the rest that size.  The whole project went into the UFO pile for at least a year...

So today when I had to face squaring up and trimming down the applique blocks for my guild's donation quilt I  did it very, very carefully.  First, I find this easier to do either on my own or with only one other quilter.  I need to focus and I don't focus well in groups!  Second I write everything...every little measurement down...and I keep that notebook with me for the duration.  I've though that I should get some notebook to hang around my neck...maybe next time!  The phone is to call a friend if and when panic sets in...

Next I prep my cutting board...this means moving all fabric off of it, a quick dusting, a check of the rotary cutter blade and making sure I have a ruler large enough for the blocks.  Since I am starting with the center medallion this mean a long ruler!  Also, my really large square ruler (20+ inches) broke during out last move...these blocks finish at 17 inches and I don't have a square large enough so I'll be using this ruler for everything.

Next...sit down for a cup of tea....

Then press the blocks using a bit of starch or sizing.  I want them to be really flat and stable since I will have to re-position them at least once on the cutting board.

More tea...and something with sugar....like a cranberry nut muffin!

So no photos of the actual cutting...remember what I wrote at the beginning...I need to focus!  But I got the center square and the four corner hst blocks all squared up and sewn together (34 inches square!.)  Phew.  It worked...must have been that great Yorkshire tea!

Thoughts on the 30's...

I had a couple of folks email me about the fabrics I used in my Scrappy Trip Around the World.  (Just a "programming note:"  If your comments are set to no reply it means just that.  I can't answer your questions with a return email!)

I had a large collection of 1930's reproduction fabrics.  One of my all time favorite is Judie Rothermel's that represented countries from around the world.  That was sort of what sparked the quilt.  (btw...if anyone has any of the Pink Paris Eiffel tower or the Orange Middle East fabric shown in the quilt above..I just used my last little bit of it and am looking for more...)

However I used a lot of non-reproduction fabric and that is what a few of you were curious about...

I did it because the 1930 quilts that I really love are first scrappy and second don't read as strictly pastel.  Generally this means some 1900 or dress making fabrics slipped into the mix.

For instance this is a top (photo above) I made years ago that became a UFO...love the fabrics but not inspiring.  Too pastel and flat for me.  Also, since most of the fabrics are busy you don't really notice any of them...and some are really fun!

Just adding a bit of fabrics that allow the eye to rest sparks the quilt up a bit...

Then I started seeing this in antique and vintage quilts...

This is a "nice" Quilt...the fabrics within the block are fairly flat but the solids set them off.

This is an "exciting" quilt-top (granted this is only my opinion but as it is my blog...)  The variation in patterns really draws your eye to the novelty/specialty fabrics in this top...

This was the first time I'd ever seen fabric celebrating Cab Calloway and other Jazz Musicians! (the blue and the maroon fabrics

Here is another quilt-top from that time period that inspires some of my fabric choices...

So now when I make a 1930's inspired quilt I try to add some fabrics that are either solid or read solid.  I don't put too many "star" fabrics next to each other (maybe I'll start calling them "diva" fabrics since they "want to be alone...")   And I look for fabrics that will add texture (stripes, checks, chevrons  polka dots) which don't usually come in the 1930's collections but do show up in the 1903's quilts.

Think that answers the questions.  Remember that is just my approach...you do it the way you like when you make your quilt!  (that is my only rule!)

In a bind...

I am so torn today...I want to start a new project.  Not a project that I need to do for the quilt show challenge or for the silent auction or even for Quilts of Valor.  I want to start a project that has no real purpose what so ever...just because.

The other side of me is demanding I finish the yards and yards of black binding that is cluttering my sewing table so I can get is sewn down on my Orca Bay which I've selected to be my May finish quilt...I mean as much as I hate to say it there are no quilt-finish-fairies and this quilt isn't going to finish itself...sigh....

So what is this mysterious project?  Wool...a wool applique pillow that has been on my mind for the past couple of months.  I have all the fabric...I even have the cushion to go inside.  I just need to give myself permission to play...

Silk English Paper Piecing...

A few days ago a friend passed on to me a quilt top she had purchased many years ago in England.  It is made of silks and still has much of the paper used to piece it (say that three times fast) basted on the back.

The silks are tougher for me to date than cottons but the writing and the advertisement pieces provide clues.  I'm thinking circa 1900...what do you think?

As much as I love the papers on the back they may have contributed to some of the deterioration of the silk.  There is acid in the paper and that isn't good for the fabrics.

 Years ago I found a cotton EPP with the paper.    I carefully removed the papers and put them in an acid free envelope for safekeeping.  Like this quilt, there was a lot of writing on the papers and I hoped to gain some insight into who and where the quilt-top was made by looking through them.

I'm going to keep the piece as it is and use it as a study piece.  I will wrap it in acid free paper and keep it in an acid free box with some other blocks from the same time period.

And it is a finish!!!

Can you believe it...binding is on my 1930's Scrappy Trip Around the World!

After making three different sets of binding I finally went with red and am really happy with how it come out. I hate to admit it but I started this quilt while I was living in England...more than a couple years ago!

But it is done and will be in my quilt guild's show this fall.  The pattern for this quilt is on Bonnie Hunter's website Quiltville.com

I stopped by my guild's bee this morning to say hi.  Below is a rag rug that my friend Rachel is making.

The center is cotton rope/clothes line.  I love how bright it is turning out.  Can you believe she was going to use it under her trash-barrel to keep if from slipping on her new hardwood floor!  Rest assured she has changed her mind...

Happy Birthday Brownie and Goldie

My two quilting cats, Brownie and Goldie, turn 13 years old this week!

                                                Goldie!

                                           Brownie!

They were rescue kittens from the same litter...though you would never know they were sisters since they would much rather hang out with the dog than with each other.  They both love to play in the fabric scraps...surf on the blocks, and generally hang out with the quilts.

They take turns overseeing work in the quilting room as they don't even like to be in the same room as one another!  Brownie is the one who likes to steal strips of fabric and small blocks for her own stash behind the sofa....so if a block count is off I know exactly where to go!

When ever I hear of folks talk about getting a pet I feel honor-bound to remind them that it can be a long term responsibility.  A responsibility that in my own case I hope goes no for a long long time to come.