Musings

How much do you think I got done?

August 23, 2011 by Margaret

I’m back from retreat and I think I’m pleased with my efforts over the weekend…

I got all the blocks sewn for my modern quilt.

This was so quick and easy I had the blocks sewn before dinner on Friday night.

It’s not exactly how I saw it in my mind, of course it still needs its splashes of appliqued leaves here and there so it’s too early to tell.

I will leave the leaves (hehehe that’s funny) until I can have a quiet day at home to ponder colours and placement in my own time.

I think I will place some of the leaves to cover that blue…it’s taking over a bit and needs toning down.

I didn’t get a lot of the quilting done on the Welsh Quilt.

When I laid it out at the retreat I was surprised (and fighting back feelings of deflation) at how little I had done at my last effort…

bah humbug I thought I had done more than that

However I have started again on the quilting and that has renewed my motivation to work on it steadily to completion. Let’s see shall we!

Our LQG is making aprons for the members to wear at Quilt-ins and Exhibitions so a few of us had a little production line to get a further nine finished to complete our quota of 12 aprons.

The maroon colour is exactly the colour of my school uniform at high school.

I told Alison I’m glad she didn’t add a Gold, I would have felt I was back in form three.

Just had a little google search and the uniform hasn’t changed much.

Queen Elizabeth College, or as we called just plain QEC.

The tie has changed (I thought that was the one thing you never changed), we didn’t have the blue in the tie, just the girls’ summer tunic.

I digress…

at the last moment on Friday before leaving I threw in a half finished Maltaville Block.

And managed to finish it.

I’ll post a picture of it shortly cos there’s such a flurry of activity here with the Maltaville there’s more new blocks I want to show you.

soon

6 Comments

Filed Under: Musings, Reproduction Quilts

Yippee…I’m off to a retreat tomorrow

August 18, 2011 by Margaret

And here’s what I’ve decided to work on…

Remember these fabrics I bought a few months ago?

Contemporary and Snazzy

Well I think a weekend away is a perfect opportunity to get started on my modern quilt for friends in NZ.

In fact I’m pretty sure I’ll get all the blocks sewn…

…because it’s pretty basic.

I have cut all the pieces, sixteen 18″ square blocks. Yep, that’s the block laid out there.

I didn’t have enough of one fabric for the top right hand corner piece so will use three different fabrics there.

There will be applique (fusible) splashes of the three stripes… for interest.

Though it looks pretty busy at the moment.

I’ve never done anything like this modern stuff before so am just having a play and kind of making it up as I go.

I have drawn up a koru (unfurling fern frond) shape for the applique but am now leaning toward a leaf shape.

I have grabbed a pile of half empty longarm machine bobbins to use up too, I love that feeling of finishing something…

even if it’s only a bobbin.

Project box, including my quilt ‘map’ ready to go in the car.

Next…

maybe I will want to do some hand quilting in the evenings.

This quilt (my Welsh Quilt repro) has been on my mind a bit for the last month or so.

I really want to get it finished so I can get the pattern underway…

well actually the pattern is done really but with no photo of the finished quilt it isn’t much of a pattern.

So I gathered up the tools required and will take this to work on too.

I have not hand quilted for sooooo long, I don’t even know what size needle will be comfortable for me anymore,

LOL, you can see I have grabbed a selection, just in case.

I hope I haven’t forgotten some vital piece of hand quilting apparatus.

All the quilting pattern decisions are made, all I need is the ‘woman’ hours.

A little bit of bedtime reading is also a retreat treat so I whilst in town this evening

I popped in to the newsagent for my guilty pleasure.

bliss.

I think I will not take any Maltaville blocks to work on after all… I will stick to what I have here and

actually achieve something that way.

I’ll show you the results when I get back.

I hope your weekend is a good one too.

5 Comments

Filed Under: Musings

Spring is getting ready to…spring

August 3, 2011 by Margaret

Some of my recent posts have made mention of the bleak winter we have had, well look now…

First blooms

I took a little stroll around the garden at lunchtime

(it’s warmer outside than in because I let the fire go out last night)

I have masses and masses of Daffodils but the first are just emerging now, give it a few weeks and my garden will be a blaze of yellow.

Violets too…

I wish you coud smell these...heady.

I look out my window to potted Hyacinths… but I will plant these out in the garden when they die back.

ooops...Spot the spray starch through the window, this is my workroom.

And just to illustrate that here in Australia we know we really shouldn’t moan about cold winters, hanging on all through winter are two roses still in bloom…a bit ratty looking but they’ve seen more than a few frosts.

Dublin Bay, a (usually) very gorgeous climber.

I have been very productive on the Maltaville these last few weeks, drafting and prepping.

But before prepping comes auditioning the fabrics.

The Prussian Blue is a given, and the Red. At this stage I’m going with the fabric on the top right hand side for the arcs.

Some fabric choices fall in to place so easily and these next two I’m really happy with.

I ‘m really pleased how close these fabric choices are to the original…maybe the best so far.

Block D1

Block D8

I never did get any little yellow check of the right scale or shade for a few of the blocks so I have

repeated a light cheddar (or a dark butterscotch yellow)

which I have used in another block for this next one.

Block D3

Time to light the fire again, I have another Maltaville block partly sewn which I want to finish

this evening and I need to make sure the living room is

Toastie.

til soon…

2 Comments

Filed Under: Applique, Maltaville Album Quilt 1847, Musings, Reproduction Quilts

New friends, renewed inspiration…

July 3, 2011 by Margaret

It has been a frenetic week and a half, but so much fun.

I will try to fill you in on what I have been up to, but I feel like I have been spinning around like a whirling dervish.

In fact it may be better to tell it in reverse chronological order, but I hope it doesn’t get too jumbled.

"That's not your chair Rollo and you should not be on my quilt". Rollo replies "I'm not looking at you therefore you can't see me". "mmmm, just as well you had a bath yesterday"

This morning I got up to find Rollo snuggled in to my Mid 19th Century Star quilt, where she had no doubt spent the night.

This quilt has just come home from Holland where it has been residing at Den Haan & Wagenmakers in Amsterdam for a time.

(In fact another quilt is now flying back with Petra and Nel to Holland today…those quilts will have more frequent flyer miles than me)

Petra Prins and I have been communicating via email for over a year but we finally met in person last weekend at the Sydney Quilt Show, well actually on the footpath on the way back to the hotel is where we met by chance and did “meet and greet” with hugs and kisses.

I was delighted to also meet Petra’s dear friend and business partner Nel Kooiman in Sydney but here is a photo of us together in Castlemaine yesterday. (See, there is no easy way to put a busy week in nice little chronological package)

image of Petra Prins, Nel Kooiman and me.

L-R Petra Prins and Nel Kooiman from Den Haan & Wagenmakers, and me.

Petra and Nel are the loveliest of ladies, very giving of their time and friendship. I feel very honoured that they like my work and we are able to do some things together.

With the return of the quilt Petra and Nel surprised me with the most beautiful thank you gift.

Dutch Chintzes from Den Haan & Wagenmakers

These fabrics are absolutely divine, scrumptious…superlatives fail me.

I bought Petra’s book in Sydney along with An Moonen’s book on the History of Dutch Quilts and there is plenty of inspiration for using these fabrics in here…

A History of Dutch Quilts by An Moonen and Treasures From Holland by Petra Prins

Petra’s book is published by Quiltmania

Petra’s book has 19 projects to make and An Moonen’s book is full of fabric/quilt history and photo’s of Antique Dutch quilts from museums and private collections. They sit on the coffee table, handy to pick up and be inspired.

Inspired.

That is the word that covers the last week and a half for me.

In Sydney Jennifer and I also met Mary and Joe Koval and four of the Quiltmania team – Editor Carol, Guy, Isabelle and Marie Lou.

Along with Petra and Nel we made up a party of ten for dinner at Darling Harbour where we had a great night of chatter and laughter, and learning more about each other… I have made some lovely and inspiring new friends.

At the Quilt Show (proper, as in actually at the Exhibition) Jennifer and I were very impressed with the work on display. There are a lot of reproduction style quilts which suited us very nicely, but also great Contemporary quilts and Art quilts.

I took copious photo’s and want to show some of what I saw over the next few weeks, but I need to write to get permission from a few quilters first, some I know who you are and a couple I have to track down first.

However, I do have permission to show you this quilt which really ‘grabbed’ me. Thank you Linda.

...and now for something completely different! by Linda Butcher. Hand appliqued and quilted.

That’s the title of this quilt by Linda Butcher. Jenn and I spent ages in front of this one, we both really liked the way Linda had taken the shapes from the fabric and created them elsewhere in the quilt with quilting and applique (which is pretty much what her artist’s statement said) Great use of ‘Fussy Cutting’ too.

The following day, Jennifer and I headed out to Quiltsmith and were chatting about the show and with staff and customers, when I mentioned a quilt and how much I liked it, showed the photo on my phone and the lady behind the counter said ‘That’s my quilt”, so she was happy to let me show it here for you.

But I digress and have jumped forward a day.

On Saturday night we met up for dinner and cocktails at The Rocks (a part of Sydney near the Opera House) with one of the Maltaville Quilt ladies, Kerry.

Me, Jennifer and Kerry (Jenn at the back)

We had never met Kerry before but had great fun, chatted for hours about quilts (the ones we’ve made and the ones we’re going to make), quilt shows, quilting travel…

We vowed to get up early on Sunday, we tore around The Exhibiton some more, raced out to do some shopping at Quiltsmith and just managed to rearrange the suitcases with the Quiltsmith purchases before the Hotel/airport shuttle arrived. We were exhausted when we got to the airport Sunday late afternoon, way ahead of time but I prefer to relax when I get to the airport and luckily Jenn feels the same so we travel well together…A good book each (mine with paper pages and Jenn’s one of the digital things) and a couple of hours of quiet time was just what we needed.

And, getting back to that photo of Petra, Nel and me up the top, that was taken yesterday at the special Castlemaine Applique Group meeting where our guests for the day were, Petra & Nel, Mary & Joe Koval and Carol & Guy. 200 women stitching (and a couple of men), fabulous quilts for show and tell, so much creativity in one room…t’was wonderful.

Now things are returning to normal ~ quilting customer quilts (Melbourne’s Quilt show is later this month), Maltaville stitching (I took a block to Sydney and did …Nothing), Pattern printing.

But I sat quietly last night with graph paper and pencil and drew some new quilt possibilities…

5 Comments

Filed Under: Design, Musings

I can’t believe it’s been a year…

May 29, 2011 by Margaret

…since I started on this new blogging venture. The friends I’ve made this last year has demonstrated to me that blogging certainly is the 21st century equivalent of a quilting bee, we really don’t need to be in the same room to connect, encourage and enjoy each others company. And enjoy ogling at each others quilts ~ finished or otherwise.

Some new friends I have even managed to meet in person and that’s been a real pleasure too.

And the computer skills I’ve learnt (all thanks to Jennifer’s patience) I wouldn’t have thought possible a year ago.

So of course an anniversary means a give away…

…but I’ll tell you about that later.

First I want to tell you about a much anticipated parcel that arrived a couple of weeks ago.

Yes, that is all Smithsonian Fabric.

Judy in Ohio (another new friend, we plan to meet up at the Cincinnati Quilt show next year) wrote to me to say she had an excess of Smithsonian fabric and was wanting to sell it.

Between me emailing images of every smithsonian fabric with its range & pattern name and Judy spreading out and sorting what turned out to be 50 yards of fabric all over her dining table (and getting it cleaned off again before hosting a large family gathering) we were able to ascertain what she had and how much of it.

It took the best part of a weekend for both of us!

She also had all the Quilters Newsletter magazines from 1996 which had an 8 part quilt project using RJR Smithsonian ‘Rising Sun’ fabrics. The quilt is Heritage Medallion and was designed and made by Cynthia Dale.

All eight issues should I ever want to make the quilt but regardless there is still some very interesting (and relevant) reading in these magazines.

And a bit of a UFO.

I love looking at what other quilters have started, this one I may do something with one day, it will be fun to see how I interpret Judy’s quilt ideas and what the result is.

And there were other Smithsonian treasures like original fabric pack labels and photo’s of quilts from an American quilt exhibition featuring quilts inspired by RJR’s Smithsonian quilt fabrics.

Jennifer and I know we really need to do some work on the What Fabric is That? website…we have no excuse now that we have virtually complete Smithsonian ranges. Full ranges are what we’ve been steadily working towards for ages.

Okay, now for the good part

I have these four Fat 1/4s (American size) to give away.

I’ve selected one fabric each from the four Smithsonian ranges.

left to right: Rising Sun Quilt 'Floral Scroll' ; Little Sister's Quilt 'Perennial Garden; The Groom's Quilt 'Cretonne' and The Copp Quilt 'Sweetpea'

‘Floral Scroll’ # 2208-1 in Madder/Cream is a small scale print and is almost identical to a fabric found in Betsy Totten’s Rising Sun quilt from the 1800s. The fabric was released in Nov 1994.

‘Perennial Garden’ #2308-2 in Dusty Blue is a medium scale floral with a picotage background. Even though it is part of The Little Sister’s Quilt range, the fabric is copied from another 19th century quilt in the Smithsonian’s collection. The fabric was released in June 1995.

‘Cretonne’ #2407-3 in Asparagus also was not taken from the quilt which bears the name of the fabric range ~ Benoni Pearce’s Groom’s Quilt ~ but was taken from a pieced quilt made around 1850 using alternating blocks. Released in Oct 1995.

‘Sweetpea’ #2504 -1 Pale Blue is a small scale floral on a trailing vine. It’s not from the Copp Quilt but the fabric is taken from an early 19th century English counterpane. Released in 1996.

So all you have to do is leave a comment on this post by next Saturday to go in the running.

During the week (sorry I just ran out of time tonight) I will sort through and choose another 4 fabrics so there will be a second prize

~ and gee this time I might try harder to choose fabrics that really are taken from the quilt whose name they bear or at least a quilt we can identify LOL~

I don’t think I have one of those random number generator things (or if I do I don’t know how to use it) so I will put the names in a hat and get Jennifer to draw two out.

I’ll upload a pic of the other four fabrics when I’ve chosen them.

Good luck and I’ll post anywhere in the world.

30 Comments

Filed Under: 1800s Reproduction Fabrics, Musings, Smithsonian Fabrics

Some more Links…Not quilts but just as addictive.

April 12, 2011 by Margaret

I’ve been playing about with my blog this morning while eating my toast…and I decided to add some extra blog links on the sidebar.

Even though I spend more time than I should looking at quilting blogs…so addictive…I also manage to peek at these few I’ve added when I ought to be doing other things.

I want to bring your attention particularly to From Little Acorns which I found a while back by linking from Sue’s I Sew Quilts, thanks Sue. I first *discovered* this delightful young couple years go on my favourite TV show Grand Designs. They were newly married and building there first home (an Oak Frame house) in an area of Britain I had recently visited…you know how it is, such a tenuous connection but I became interested by their story and I was delighted to find them on Sue’s blog and to see what they had been doing in the years between.

The blog list is heavily stacked towards what I have politely called House Candy…that is, it’s a chance to ogle at other people’s gorgeous homes and gardens…so if you like to do that too, there may be something there you’ll find interesting.

Til soon…

6 Comments

Filed Under: Musings

Danke fur den sitzplatz

March 12, 2011 by Margaret

That’s right, this is not quilt related…

Earlier in the week, Michele over at Betwixt the Betweens had a humourous post about signs seen on holiday. Michele’s was hilarious with a sign about how to (or more importantly, how not to) use a lavatory.

It reminded me of a sign I would see every day on the strassen bahns (trams) and U bahns (underground trains) in Vienna when I had a holiday there a few-ish years ago.

Danke fur den sitzplatz

The sign is pretty self explanatory ~ even with my worse than appalling German I could figure out that you had to vacate your seat for any of these people who might need it more than an able bodied person.

So I could see that there was a pregnant lady, a lady with a child and a disabled man but the guy on the end I could not figure out…

It didn’t help that I was there with my (then) 18 year old daughter who would chuckle away to herself, stooped over and holding her hands together fingers and thumbs touching and tapping like Mr. Burns on The Simpsons…I was stumped…what does a man reading a paper and tapping his fingers together like Mr. Burns mean?

It took nearly the whole 6 days we were there until I worked it out… I noticed the glasses, it’s a blind man… and that’s obviously a braille newspaper he’s reading. And, embarrasingly, it’s only as I’m looking at it again now that I can see he has a white cane under his newspaper.

Really, why did they put the newspaper in the picture? it’s just too confusing. But to this day Ayla can do her little impression of Mr. Burns tapping his fingers together and it takes me right back to Vienna.

Aaaah Vienna, the marzipan capital of the world… how much marzipan can one girl eat?

yes, these weiners are made of marzipan.

Back to quilt related next time, this was just a bit of fun and indulgence for a Saturday afternoon.

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Filed Under: Musings

Great Grandma Cash’s Red and White Quilt

March 8, 2011 by Margaret

Taryn over at Repro Quilt Lover is celebrating the upcoming exhibit at the American Folk Art Musem in NYC, “Infinite Variety: Three Centuries of Red and White Quilts.” with an on-line exhibit of Red and White Quilts (old or new).

What a great idea as I won’t be able to make it to New York but would still love to see some gorgeous Red and White Quilts, thank you Taryn.

So here’s my one and only Red and White Quilt, that’s to say, it’s the only one I currently have…I’m planning on having more as I love Red and White and in fact I have one whole block made for the one I’m currently working on but don’t hold your breath.

I bought this quilt on ebay last year from Mary, a delightful lady in Wisconsin. The quilt came to her from her sister’s husband’s family, made by his Great Grandmother, Grandma Cash of Cashton, Wisconsin.

I have a tenuous connection with Wisconsin as two of my Grandmother’s sisters migrated there from England in the first quarter of the 20th century so I have some distant Wisconsin cousins but it would be way too spooky if they were related to Great Grandma Cash or her downline. I am just thrilled to have this example of Wisconsin quilt making, I’m not sure I could hope for my cousins to have slept under it too.

Mary felt the quilt was possibly made around the 1920s, this may be correct or may be an assumption from working backwards to Great Grandma Cash from her Brother-in-law’s age at an approximate of 25 years per generation.

I feel it might even be as early as 1880 up to 1920 for a few reasons.

Red and White Quilts were popular from around 1880 up until 1910
The smaller single bed size was popular from 1880.
Triple Sashing was popular from 1870-1910
The condition of the fabrics *seems* more consistant with the older time frame

Then of course we get in to the *buts and howevers*

Not everyone is exposed to current trends and so in some, possibly more isolated, areas they may have continued longer in a style of quiltmaking that was no longer as fashionable elsewhere in the country.
Great Grandma Cash may have just sewn whatever she liked with little regard for what was new or fashionable.
It is obviously a well used (much loved) quilt and may have just worn more quickly.

So I have a lovely quilt that is hard to pin an exact time frame on, but that’s OK…I love it but treat it carefully.

The quilting is very simple and linear, a mixture of Dropped Diamonds, Chevrons and wide Echo quilting.

I should have photographed the binding, very skinny, applied binding and quite worn.

And it’s so so soft.

I hope you all get to pop over to Taryn’s site and enjoy the links to other’s quilts…and if you have a Red and White Quilt, don’t forget to join in the fun.

5 Comments

Filed Under: Antique Quilts, Musings

The Quiltery, England…is it still there?

November 17, 2010 by Margaret

The Quiltery, Newey Mill, Tipton, DY4 8AH, England…do any of our British quilting friends know?

The reason I ask is that Penny Tucker asked me about the quilting patterns peeping out from under a magazine clipping in this recent post (click here) Thanks Penny, it made me think others might also be interested so I got these out to show you properly.

The Quiltery, Traditional Quilting Patterns (series 4)

The Quiltery, Traditional Quilting Patterns (series 5)

I bought these two packs at least 15 years ago from Spotlight (which Australians will know as a sewing and ‘craft’ institution. No matter where you live, you’re probably not far from a Spotlight).

They were in the bargain bin, going for the princely sum of 95c a pack. At the time a reel of quilting thread probably cost $3.50 so I’m a bit embarassed that they were so cheap because they are such a great resource to have in my quilt room.

Only the two packs were left, obviously there were series 1 through 3 but I wonder how many more series they produced…does anyone out there have any of the other packs?

Each pack contains 12 paper sheets of traditional Welsh and North Country quilting patterns, some sheets have several designs per page so Series 5 actually contains 24 different designs.

I did a google search for The Quiltery and found a Clamshell kit on Ebay and two patchwork template sets on Etsy (dated 1979…I wonder if my packs had been in Spotlight since 1979).

I’d like to think The Quiltery is still around, if they were in business in the 70s they were at the forefront of a quilting revival that hasn’t waned and they are to be congratulated.

bed time reading

I’ve increased my library a bit over the last couple of weeks as you can see…The latest offering from The American Folk Art Museum ‘Quilts‘ is wonderful, many of the quilts are in their earlier book but this edition goes in to more detail. There are some great close-ups of the Sarah Morrell quilt.

My favourite though is the Massachusetts Quilts by Lynne Zacek Bassett, there are some glorious old quilts in this book and several drawings by the author detailing quilting patterns which I found particularly interesting. Lots and lots of inspiration here.