Quilt History Connection

Memphis Cotton Museum and the Davies Manor are showing mini quilts with connections to quilting in the 1800's. Each quilt is to show a type of block used in one of the decades in that century.

I chose the fan block.

I found information on the fan block online at the MET Museum and the Nebraska Quilt Museum.

Fan blocks came after the 1876 USA Centennial and were similar to Crazy Quilts but more orderly.

Embroidery stitches like Herringbone, Fly, and Feather were used to attach the silk and velvet scraps.

The earliest documented quilt was made in 1883.

The earliest printed pattern came in 1896.

My blocks are 6 inches finished. The base block is modern quilting cotton.

The fan blades are made using fabric from men's ties.

My mom, Helen Thornton, cut the shapes for a fan quilt that was never finished.

I tried two different settings and chose the setting above.

I call it Sun and Butterflies.

It is copied partially from a red and white fan quilt I saw on the MET website.

Above is a close up of the center circle.

The blades are sewn together then applied to the base.

I used an embroidery stitch on my Pfaff to stitch on each seam, around the outside,

and on the inner quarter circle.

The quilting is very minimal.

Instead of binding I made facings and added a hanging sleeve at the top.

The white triangle is the label.

Above is a close up of the quilting on the back.

The corners have a ghost quarter circle quilted where a fan could be placed.

Close up of the quilting and embroidery on the front.

The machine stitch is similar to a feather stitch, I think.

So, here is my entry to the mini quilt show.

It will help me remember my mom's quilting and my dad's spiffy ties.

Happy Sewing! 

Next up - October piano runner.

Delta Fair Results

I entered four small quilts in the Delta Fair.

The fair opened yesterday.

This morning we went with our son and his family to look at the craft exhibit.

The small quilts were in cases with all the other small crafts.

It was like an egg hunt to find my four quilts.

Here is my winter piano runner with a blue ribbon! 

Underneath all the other decorations is my February piano runner - no ribbon.

A close up of my first place ribbon.

The mini quilt I made in a rush before the fair received a red ribbon.

And my favorite improved cat quilt - no ribbon.

I am pleased with 2 out of 4 ribbons.

Next year I'm bringing more.

Ava and Kenton liked seeing the crafts done by children.

Maybe next year they will submit some items.

Next up - Cotton Museum mini quilt and my September Challenge piano runner.

Happy Sewing! 

Bits of this and that

Last week I attended the first meeting of the Midnight Garden quilt group at the Sewing House.

Jennifer told us about her premie grandsons and some sewing projects their NICU needed.

I made the flannel hearts above that help with mom-child bonding.

Saturday I entered these quilts in the Delta Fair. 

Next week I will find out if any of them received a ribbon.

My monthly block challenge piano runner. 

The backing is my favorite little houses fabric.

Again I used facings instead of binding.

The border is a yellow fabric from my stash.

It was cut in 2.5 inch strips and left over from a quilt I finished about 10 years ago.

The three blocks connect to my September birthday.

The thread spools represent my sewing projects.

The apples relate to my teaching days.

The cupcakes are for our family birthdays in September -

Kenton, Ava, and me.

Close up of the thread spools.

The pattern was free from Moda.

I like how the corners around the center spool look like pinwheels.

The apple pattern came from the Farm Girl Vintage book.

I'm glad I found a way to use the patterns in this book.

I may never make a big quilt but I love making them for my piano runners.

The cupcakes are my own design.

I tried different placements for the different icing colors.

The chocolate one just looks best at the top to me.

I used Steam a Seam 2 to attach the pieces.

I like the way raw edge appliqué looks.

It reminds me of how I outlined the spaces when I colored in a coloring book as a child.

Next up - I will be working on my mini quilt for the Cotton Museum/Davies Manor Show.

Happy Quilting!

 

August Sewing

Ava came over with her baby doll, Lyla. Top of the list was making new dresses for Lyla.

Ava chose the fabric and trims. I used Lyla's original dress as a pattern.

Mini pompoms on a fun print.

The back closes with hook and loop tape cut in half.

Lace  on the sleeves and ribbon flowers on the bodice.

I've had these flowers since Ava was tiny.

Perfect for a doll dress.

First fabric pick was this dark teal.

Fancy lace on neck and sleeves.

Modeling her new outfits.

I wanted to make a second baguette purse.

I bought a strap with hardware at The Sewing House.

Fabric scraps and zippers from stash.

Originally I used a pink zipper but neglected to sew across the ends and the zipper pull came off.

I couldn't get it back on so I ripped out the pink one and sewed on this green one.

One side has credit card slips and the other has a zipper pocket.

The yellow binding and the hidden pocket were made from a fat quarter - also stash.

Here is my new baguette. 

I remembered to sew in the Made in TN tag this time.

The blue fabric was leftover from a dress made many years ago. 

I'm so glad to use up some favorite fabric. 

The dragonfly zipper pull came from a pewter shop in Stowe, VT.

Very pleased with this finish.

I just finished my mini quilt for the Delta Fair.

A few days ago I filled out the entry form and mailed it.

The plan was to pull out quilts I have made this past year.

I wanted to enter my original design of an iris.

But I didn't read the category carefully. The quilt had to be smaller and 18 inches long.

Oops! The Iris quilt was 21 inches long.

The mini quilt category specified blocks of only one inch.

I like the way half square triangle blocks can be used in many simple designs.

After a while of making tiny half square triangle blocks 

I played around and came up with this. 

I wanted to make it a little bigger 

so this is how I figured out how many plain squares to make.

I had two fat quarters of light batik and the trimmed blue leftovers from another quilt.

Top finished.

All the seams were ironed open.

I bought a bag of leftover batting from the Cash for Stash table at quilt guild.

A little zigzag stitching and voila! Ready to machine quilt.

I quilted on the tan sections with a light cream thread.

Here is the back. 

The bobbin thread was variegated. 

The same leftover blue batik for binding.

All finished. 14" X 16"

Hanging sleeve and label in place.

The binding was finished by hand.

Not my usual way to finish binding but it is neater and easy with a mini quilt.

Next up - challenge blocks for September.

Happy Sewing!

 

July miscellaneous projects

Using up random yardage to make cloth popcorn bags.

An email post shared how to make cotton bags to make healthier popcorn.

I had to try one to find out.

One bag takes two 12" X 22" strips of 100% cotton fabric.

Fabric must be washed, dried, and ironed before sewing with cotton thread.

I used one third cup of popcorn and microwaved it in the bag for 2 minutes.

The popcorn was delicious and free of additives.

Sew I made 8 more bags. I wrote the directions for popping corn 

inside each bag with permanent, archival ink.

Here is another quick, scrap friendly project from the inter-webs.

These cat toys have crinkly cellophane inside.

I added a loop of ribbon that can be used with a fishing pole to entice a kitty to play.

Above is one of my Color Theory 9 patches.

I wanted to feature the center by using black and white borders.

This is a variation of Geese around the pond. 

I like the way the color pops with this border.

I'm thinking about using the sashing above when I put the blocks together.

Maybe with more bright squares in the corners.

And finally, Olive has captured one of the crinkly fish.

Look closely and you can see it under her.

What are you making?

Happy Sewing!