Tuesday, March 14, 2017

In Love with Old Fabric

As I mentioned in my previous post, I fell in love with nineteenth century reproduction fabrics shortly after I began my quilting journey. I collected smaller cuts since my passion was making small, scrappy quilts. The more reproduction prints the merrier. I didn't have much room to store it anyway so small pieces in a huge variety of colors and prints seemed the way to go. The problem was that I ran out of some of my favorites. (Oh no! Yes, I actually USED some of my favorite fabrics!) Recently, I stumbled across a group of fabrics for sale that included some of the same prints I owned when I first started quilting so I grabbed them up. Don't know why but I was thrilled to see some of these again and can't wait to mix them with my newer fabrics in a quilt.  I'm not really interested in collecting antique fabrics. Reproductions are fine with me.



Do any of you remember these? They're early reproductions of antique fabrics from when reproduction prints first became popular.  All of them are out of print and date from the 1990s I believe. Some were designed by Judie Rothermel, Harriet Hargrave, or have The Shelburne Museum and The Smithsonian noted on the selvage. 

I remember a long time ago I had some of that maroon one on the left in blue and would love to have more of it. I have only one tiny strip left. Love it and am hoarding it.


Doesn't it make a sweet dress for Addie?? (Seen on Etsy, not made by me.)

 Of course, once the old fabric arrived in the mail I was smitten and had to buy more.







It may seem silly to be so excited about old fabric when there is so much glorious new fabric out there (and believe me, I buy my share of that too) but there you have it. It's just my sentimentality showing again. I suspect it's the memories of learning about quilting and feeling that rush when I used certain fabrics to make quilts for some of my early books. 


Last year at a quilt show I came across some of that old pink print, above. I used to have some, loved it but then, suddenly, it was gone. Now I'm good to go with a fat quarter. That may be what started my old fabric search. You mean they're still out there?? 



The wheels are certainly turning now. There's nothing like playing with fabric, new or old, to inspire you. I know I'm going to have fun stitching them into some small projects and also using them in my Dear Jane quilt.

And, lest you think I only buy old fabric, don't be absurd. Recent purchases are filling up a drawer, awaiting a slow day  for sorting . . . . 




Thursday, March 9, 2017

Favorite Fabrics

Which one of us doesn't have an attachment to certain fabrics? I know I'm not alone here. I developed a love for 1800s reproduction prints shortly after I started quilting in 2001. At that time it was often difficult to find many in the shops I frequented but I grabbed them when I could. Since I was pretty much already set on making small quilts I never bought yards and yards of one fabric. What on earth would I do with that much? I was making simple little quilts from scraps.

I tend to use a lot of my favorite prints over and over in my quilts, mixing the old with the new. When I started collecting, some of it was just fabric I liked and not necessarily authentic reproduction prints. Soon I started hoarding some of them because as you all know fabric gets discontinued much too soon to make room for new lines. You fall in love with a certain print after you begin using it in your quilts (which is usually never right after you buy it) and suddenly you like the way it "plays" with your other fabrics - then six months later you can't find it anymore. Grrrr.


This is my favorite "old" fabric right now. I fell in love with this blue print YEARS ago. Who knows why? Perhaps. like real love, it just grows over time. This fabric has to be at least 10 years old, maybe more, and is not an actual reproduction print but one that plays well with my other fabrics. I have no idea of the designer or company since I only had a fat quarter to begin with. For some reason, every time I used it in a quilt it made me smile. It calmed me. So I began to incorporate small pieces of it here and there whenever I could. A soft blue like this one often works well for me to "neutralize" some of the brighter colors I like to use in my quilts. Also, I really love the way it contrasts nicely with red.  I know I will never find some of these prints again because they're so old. Makes me sad when I'm running low so I always use them sparingly to make them last.  


There it is.


There it is again.


And again.

I had only a very small piece of this blue print left. Don't even remember where it all went! Probably used it to back a quilt and gave it away before I realized how much I loved it. I decided to use some of it in my Welcome Home Mystery quilt. But I still wished I had more.



Imagine my delight when I came across some of it recently! Last month I taught a workshop in Bloomington/Normal, IL.  I like to walk around and chat with students and get to know them by looking at their fabric choices for whatever quilt we're making.  One of the class members, Lynne, showed me her fabrics and OMG - there it was! She had a whole yard of it! I began to shake with excitement and asked her if she could spare some. It appeared that my favorite fabric had no particular pull for her so we traded - she gave me 1/2 a yard and I gave her one of my patterns. Each of us thought she was getting the better end of the deal, which is the way it should work. So, now I have enough to use it in my Mystery quilt. Yay! A half yard - I'm so happy! It's probably going to last me a looong time. 

*   *   *
Speaking of Mystery quilts -  are you still following along with me? In March we put a border around the house block and yours should look like this by now - 


Join the Facebook group or the Yahoo small quilt group (see sidebar of blog) to get the directions.


You should also be working on making some of those square in square blocks for later. No telling exactly when you'll need to put them in the quilt - it's a MYSTERY. (Oh, look, my favorite fabric has made an appearance here too!)

I'll be back in a few days to tell you more about some of my other old fabrics. If you follow me on Instagram then you probably already know what silly thing I've done . . . . And, yes, I buy NEW fabric too.


Wednesday, March 1, 2017

March Winds and Pinwheels

March is always such a windy month here in Chicago.


That's why I chose my Scrappy Pinwheels quilt for this month's small quilt challenge -  it reminds me of gusty, windy days. Twirling, swirling pinwheel blocks made with all sorts of wonderful scraps.





I look at this quilt and I think of those twirly propeller hats. Ready for lift off!


You know I love Civil War era and 1800s reproduction prints and so yes, that's what I used to make mine.  From some of my favorite scraps. But you can pick your own colors to make your quilt. That's the rule. Make what you love.



Have fun playing around with your scraps. Join my Facebook small quilt group and show us a picture when you're finished.


Also, I'll be posting another Mystery Quilt clue on Friday, March 3. You'll find the directions for my free Welcome Home Mystery Quilt sew along  in the Files section of the Facebook group (access the files from the group home page) or in Files in the Yahoo Small Quilt group. We're making this quilt a little bit at a time and we'll finish them in August or September. 




Monday, February 13, 2017

Little Hearts

There was no time to make a quilt but I still had to make a little something for Valentine's Day.


I sort of followed a tutorial on the Cluck Cluck Sew blog for making the hearts but fooled around and made mine a little bit smaller for a coaster and mug rug. Or, maybe I'll surprise myself and make a few more and then that one on the plate will become a block in a quilt someday.


Right now I'm working on the second block(s) for the Welcome home Mystery Quilt.  I'll upload the pattern to the files in my Yahoo and Facebook groups on Wednesday, Feb 15. Don't worry -  this part will not be nearly as difficult as the first block. Oh my goodness, what a disaster with those templates and the sizing of the block. Sorry for all of the confusion when some of you printed out the pattern as a .pdf file. The rest of the quilt will be more straightforward and the remaining blocks much simpler. 

Happy Valentine's Day!




Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Civil War Baskets

Continuing on with workshop photos . . . The Bloomington/Normal Illinois quilters made these baskets from my book Remembering Adelia last weekend -


Here's my scrappy Civil War Baskets quilt. 


Here are some of the baskets the workshop group made - 


Lots and lots of pretty prints. 










Civil War meets Batiks . . . .




Making those basket handles wasn't as difficult as they expected. 
Once you get the hang of it, it's easy. 

If you're hesitant about making handles for your baskets - here's a simple method that takes away a lot of the stress. You can use the same technique for making vines and stems on other applique projects. See the full directions in the back of my book Remembering Adelia.


The first step is to cut your fabric strip on the bias - which means that it's cut on the diagonal of the grain.


I used pressing bars to form the handles. These are 12" long, heat-resistant plastic bars for making applique vines and stems. They come in a package with several bars of varying widths. You may prefer to use bias tape makers and they work as well. Just follow the package directions for the tool you use.


For the bars, fold the strip WRONG sides together and sew a 1/4" seam along the raw edge to make a tube. Cut the ends of the strip to the the correct length - for the Civil War Baskets it's 1 1/4" x 6". After sewing, trim the seam allowance a little.


Slide the rounded end of the pressing bar into the fabric and press as you roll the seam to the middle. Press the seam in one direction. When you turn it over, the seam will be hidden. Remove the bar CAREFULY as it gets very hot and finish pressing the tube flat.


Now you're ready to shape the handle into the curved shape and pin it to the background fabric. Since the fabric was cut on the bias it will stretch easily. Find the center and pin. (Mine is a little off but it's just a sample piece.) Baste, pin or glue the handle in place. Then, applique it down either by hand or machine. Voila! Easy bias-strip basket handles. Follow the rest of the directions in the book or your particular pattern to attach the handles to the basket. 


 You can also make handles with the 1/4 inch Clover bias tape maker, which is what I used for these handles in my Cherry Baskets quilt from last year's doll quilt club.