Smithsonian Fabrics

Red & White Pine Trees Quilt

January 11, 2012 by Margaret

I’ve got quilting tonight, it’s my LQG’s first one for the year and I’m looking forward to catching up with all my quilting buds.

I’ve got heaps of Show and Tell of course because I can take the two finished quilts from the previous post

and

this quilt top…

Pine Trees quilt

You might remember I had run out of puff a little while ago with this quilt.

Truth be known, I had made two and a bit blocks several months ago,

and the ‘bit’ of a block is because I got some of the units turned the wrong way

(isn’t that what always happens when sewing late at night)

I could use those units in another block, but I guess that was enough to get out of sync with it.

So on Monday I got the Ikea tub out (all my projects are in Ikea tubs) and decided to just get on with it.

ooodles of half square triangles

First things first,

coffee,

then sew.

So many half square triangles, I quickly dubbed the day Mundane Monday.

I sewed them in chains of twenty as that is how many are required for each block.

I had to make 260 of these for starters

(I had already made 60, luckily)

But I got on with it because I didn’t want to still be making those the next day or it would be tedious Tuesday

Down to the last few

By the end of the day I had all the blocks done.

Tuesday morning I was set to get this knocked over in the day.

Way back at the start I had cut all the setting triangles and plain squares,

the border strips and even the binding, as I was worried about having enough of the Smithsonian Red.

"I can feel an empty tub coming on..."

There’s no other way to do it is there?

Is this what you do too, just lay it all out on the floor and start sewing…

Nearly there

I realise now I didn’t take a photo of the borders, which I sewed as four sets of complete strips

(Red, White, Red, White)

then added them with mitred corners.

I think if I had done them as four separate rounds I’d still be at it.

The inspiration for this quilt,

apart from Linda Collin’s Exhibition later this year

and apart from having enough, with only a little to spare, of Red Smithsonian Fabric,

was an 1875 – 1900 Pennsylvanian quilt in the American Museum in Britain (Bath) collection.

The original quilt is quilted with Feather Wreaths in the plain squares and Clamshells in the pieced blocks.

If I decide to do that it will keep me out of mischief for a while LOL.

I’ve got to join a back before I get up to that bit.

In the meantime, I’ve got this to work on tonight at quilting

Block F6

The whole block is stuck done and ready to go sew, time for a quick cuppa then I’m off.

Til soon…

14 Comments

Filed Under: 1800s Reproduction Fabrics, Maltaville Album Quilt 1847, Pine Trees Quilt 1875-1900, Reproduction Quilts, Smithsonian Fabrics

Happy Holidays

December 28, 2011 by Margaret

Season's greetings from my house to yours

My wish is to have time to relax on that sofa with some hand sewing, and something festive to eat and drink.

I know that won’t happen on ‘the day’ but Boxing day will do.

The studio is taking shape and I have been over there doing some work, but I’m still in that transition stage, where whatever it is I need to put my hands on…it’s in the *other* building.

I’ve noticed a few of us are enjoying new spaces at the moment…

Sue from I Sew Quilts

And Sally from Feather on a Wire

I’ve not yet moved my fabrics over, I need to work out where I want my shelves. And I just know I’ll change the furniture around a couple of times before I settle…and even then I’m likely to change it again.

Maybe it’s a Libra thing.

I do know it’s a DH thing to want to put shelves up just the once

So here’s a pic of the studio looking a bit more lived in.

Ahem,

That was all written last week…and I’ve only just sat down to blog again.

And the first thing I did was pop a new header photo up top…it’s a fabric I got on ebay.

Never saw this Margo Krager Dargate on our shores, at least not at any quilt shops I frequent.

However I don’t think it really ‘goes’ with the other colours and unfortunately I can’t find the previous blog header photo. It’s possibly in the folder that Jenn made, it has sub folders and each one she has marked *don’t touch* mmmmm

When she comes out next I’ll smile and ask her to put it back how it was…please.

I hope you all had a super Christmas, I have to do secret shots of my family because we’re all a bit camera shy.

I managed to snap this one of them relaxing after making short work of the antipasto platter.

Christmas 2011

DH has his back to the camera and I have caught my two kiddies chatting away like the happiest of siblings that they are.

Christmas was a small affair this year, which was very nice for the cook, moi.

Since then, I have been catching up with hand sewing so my Christmas wish did come true

I had a few Maltaville blocks earmarked to F.i.n.i.s.h., they had been hanging around way too long in various stages of completed-ness, so they went to the top of the ‘to do’ list.

Block A5

Block A5 was pretty straight forward… four small stars and eight little hearts. Tick

Block H2 in progress

Block H2 was another matter entirely. I had in fact progressed beyond this photo and months ago had sewn the centre shape…

but horror of horrors, the middle bit of it where the blades come together looked lopsided, even tho it looked perfectly symmetrical on the pattern sheet.

Well that was how it has stayed all that time but this week was the week to get it off the wall and deal with it.

Back to the drawing board, making sure the centre was a circle.

Start again

And while I was at it, I decided to sew the star using Barbara Brackman’s method of a star from a circle which I mentioned a while ago, here’s Barbara’s method here

I had made a couple of hasty trials (with bad results) in the past but for this one I calculated I needed a 4″ star with 1″ cuts. That should give me the star shape I wanted. I know I’m missing the point of this being a ‘free-form’ star aren’t I!

Free form star

Nope…I can’t live with that. I know it’s a satisfactory replica of the stars on the original quilt but I just am not happy with the way it looks. I know they are supposed to be ‘imperfect’ and template free and I know I am missing the point of it all completely but it’s not how I want my quilt to look…not my Maltaville anyway, maybe on another quilt it’d work for me.

I think the ladies of the 19th Century were just plain better at doing it sans template than I am.

So for this quilt I’ve gone back to the other way ~ an eight pointed star cut from a template.

Block H2, last star being sewn down

This block is now finished, so H2 done. Tick

C3 The Iris… this was a block that required only four Dark Blue pieces and a clayx added to it.

Of course, the reason I procrastinate over a block (and I’m sure we’re all the same) is that I’m just not happy with it and I’m not sure why yet…but it will come to me if I leave it long enough LOL

As I added each of the last four Dark Blue pieces, The Brown became less and less Okay until it just had to go.

I know the block would have originally been much stronger tones and probably a purple, but I liked the way it has faded to a warm brown. But it wasn’t looking right in my version. So now it is Purple.

Off with the old, on with the new!!

And while I was at it, that free form star is going too cos I’m not doing them like that now.

I love that Smithsonian fabric but it’s just a bit ‘flat’,

Out

C2 finished. Tick

Block C2

And one more block to show, truly all this done since Boxing Day.

Block C3

This one has been drafted for a while but I hadn’t had a chance to do any more with it, but now finished. Tick.

I’d like to get a little more quilting done on the Welsh Quilt too but someone has other ideas.

In our house a cat can sleep peacefully knowing they will never be moved.

til soon

5 Comments

Filed Under: 1800s Reproduction Fabrics, Applique, Design, Maltaville Album Quilt 1847, Musings, Reproduction Quilts, Smithsonian Fabrics

All I want for Christmas is a new studio

December 17, 2011 by Margaret

And that’s what I’ve got, well one room of a studio anyway.

DH had to fit in the painting around the day job and other chores, and of course it takes so long when it’s all DIY.

So one room is complete and I have spent the last few days sorting & moving stuff and then sorting it and moving it some more.

Of course I up-ended two rooms in the house in the process, so there was a lot to sort.

Works in Progress

I started with the unfinished quilts/UFO’s/ Works in Progress

Call ‘em what we will, we’ve all got ‘em haven’t we… haven’t we??

I sorted but I didn’t count LOL

I only brought over a little at a time

Mostly I huffed things across in my arms but my Smithsonian fabrics came in one hit on a trolley

Four tubs of Smithsonian

of course I could have just bunged them in their slots on the shelves,

but nooooo…

I decided to sort those too.

Well it’s just that they get mucked up all the time as they come out of the box for quilt possibilities.

RJR Smithsonian fabric...The Groom's Quilt

RJR Smithsonian Fabric...The Little Sister's Quilt

RJR Smithsonian Fabric...The Copp Quilt

it’s actually better the way I have them now, I can see what I’ve got.

RJR Smithsonian Fabric...The Rising Sun Quilt

The room is looking a lot more lived in now (these photo’s were taken on Wednesday)

I have my office desk under the window

It (like a quilt) is still a work in progress and I will take some more photo’s to show you tomorrow.

On Friday I moved the books over, lots of huffing and puffing I can tell you.

So my plan for the holiday break, after the next Maltaville mail-out that is, is to start on a couple of those tubs of UFO’s,

first is the Red & White Pine Tree Quilt

Pine Tree Block

I’ve also been chipping away at the hand quilting of the Welsh Quilt

Welsh Quilt

I got some done when Jenn came over last week for a sewing day, but those borders are going to take a while…sigh.

We were pretty productive

Sewing Day

I aim to get another blog post in during the week so I won’t wish you happy hol’s just yet.

Take a look at Fiona’s Country Threads blog if you get a chance, she’s recently been in the States and has been quilt museum-ing.

There is quilt eye candy galore over several posts.

6 Comments

Filed Under: Musings, Reproduction Quilts, Smithsonian Fabrics

Gathering Dust…

November 22, 2011 by Margaret

Yes that’s what Jennifer said when she popped in yesterday,

“How’s that quilt coming along…it looks like it’s gathering dust?”

Pine tree blocks...still in progress!

It’s true I set the machine up on the end of the table so I would be able to sew the blocks in the evenings,

but it just hasn’t been happening. No reason, just not in the mood.

The machine has been there longer than I care to remember now, has to be a month I’d say!!

Never mind, I’ll get to it eventually.

Today the postie brought two treasures

Quiltmania magazine

and some fabric.

I grabbed a bit more RJR Smithsonian fabric from Heart of Dixie and *filled the bag* with some oldies but goodies.

Fabric goodie bag

Heart of Dixie is a great spot for those fabrics which have long gone in Australia, our repro stuff gets snapped up so quickly.

I’ve also been busy drafting for the Maltaville Quilt and getting very good at paper cutting.

I remember asking my daughter a while back about the pronunciation of Scherenschnitte

(she spent some time in Germany and then Zurich in her late teens as an au pair and going to German language school)

The conversation went something like this.

“darling how is Scherenschnitte pronounced?”

“How is what pronounced!!”

“Scherenschnitte, how do I pronounce it?”

“Mumsie, I don’t know, what are you talking about? I don’t know what you mean”

“you must know, you would have done it with the kids…Paper Cutting”

“ohhh, Scherenschnitte” pronounced in a way I could never hope to repeat.

Anyway here is my effort at that activity, I’m better at doing it than saying it LOL

Scherenschnitte galore

the above has now resulted in this

I find that the old fashioned paper cutting, like folded paper dolls,

is the best way to do some of these blocks and get them symmetrical (hopefully, though I’ve had a few rejects)

I should add that I’m sure my pronunciation is not too bad it’s just that where languages are concerned DD is a bit of a perfectionist.

Another nice thing that is happening is the arrival of Spring and soon Summer.

One of my cousins in NZ has joined me up to her Facebook Garden Group so I have been photographing,

and therefore enjoying more,

my garden as well as hers.

So here’s a lovely rose to enjoy from my garden.

William Morris Roses

Til soon

7 Comments

Filed Under: 1800s Reproduction Fabrics, Design, Maltaville Album Quilt 1847, Reproduction Quilts, Smithsonian Fabrics

Catching up…again.

July 17, 2011 by Margaret

Violet (my trusty longarm) and I have been working overtime lately as the Melbourne Quilt Show is just around the corner.

The Exhibition quilts which had been booked in months and months ago have steadily been arriving in the studio as the Quilt Show draws closer.

I’m pleased to say that the final Exhibition quilt was finished and given back to its owner on Friday.

Apart from a quick trip to the Physio (routine maintenance) I have not left the property in over a week nor done any ‘other’ sewing so there wasn’t anything to blog about really.

I want to show you just a couple of other quilts from the Sydney Quilt Show last month which I really liked and then I think normal blogging can resume.

Many thanks to Pam Curtis and Shirley Gibson for letting me show their quilts and also to the repro lovers yahoo group for helping me find Pam and Shirley.

When I read on Pam’s quilt label that she started her Dear Jane in 1996 I thought “there’s gotta be some Smithsonian in there” and I wasn’t disappointed.

There are four Smithsonian fabrics in this pic.

Hand Pieced and Hand Quilted

Pam’s Dear Jane, named ‘A Passage in Time’, features lots of Smithsonian fabrics but also many other pretty but muted repros. The quilt has a very beautiful mellow look as a result of that but also because of the hand piecing and hand quilting.

This last quilt is Red, Green Again by Shirley Gibson. It won three awards including Excellence in Hand Quilting.

I didn’t take any closeups because what I admire is the absolute precision with the applique placement. See how the grids and circular shapes intertwine… perfectly. Just fabulous.

Red, Green Again by Shirley Gibson

I know the Melbourne Quilt Show will be just as inspiring as the Sydney one.

My LQG, The Goldfields Quilters, will have 16 quilts on display in a special area of the Exhibition and I’ll be helping to ‘man’ our display on the Thursday morning.

Please stop by and say hello if you’re there

3 Comments

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

More Maltaville and another Sydney Quilt

July 4, 2011 by Margaret

An icy snap has descended on Central (or maybe all) Victoria…I think there is snow not far away.

I have been up in my sewing room today, drafting.

I still haven’t moved in to the cottage…I’ve decided it needs major work…a floor length window I would prefer to be a door and the solid door needs windows in it, but all that’s another story for another day.

So I drafted and prepped another Maltaville block today, some of you are keeping up so well I need to keep at it.

B5 prepped.

It’s ready to sew tonight…hope there’s something good on the telly.

I’ll add the calyxes to the buds last.

For this one the main stem is narrower at the top than at the bottom so I will needle turn that whole stem. For the other stems in this block I was able to use a bias maker.

A couple of weeks ago I realised I didn’t have any blocks from the second row done …Row B.

So this is the block I prepped in readiness for Sydney and did absolutely zilch.

All finished now though luckily.

Fiona from Country Threads in the UK has written to let me know she has deciphered the poem from the Maltaville centre block and between us we have worked out which block another poem comes from so we may be able to give some more information for the quilt.

Thank you Fiona.

Here’s another quilt that I really liked from the Sydney Quilt Show.

It’s a favourite traditional pattern…it’s been on my to do list for a long time.

World of Feathers by Wendy Whellum

Wendy is one of the Maltaville Ladies.

I really like the simple palette of blues & tan, and the red stars where the blocks join make the whole quilt very dynamic.

This is Hand Pieced and Hand Quilted…twice…yes that’s right.

Wendy first quilted it 1″ apart then felt it didn’t look right so added another row to the Baptist Fan design.

The Baptist Fan is perfect…it has such a lot of movement.

Check out those points...perfect.

Of course before I looked up and saw on the label that this was Wendy’s quilt, I noticed this piece of Smithsonian fabric.

Thank you Wendy for letting me share your gorgeous quilt.

I have sent out a request on my yahoo group about the other Sydney quilts I want to show so hopefully it will yield some results.

til soon…

1 Comment

Filed Under: Design, Maltaville Album Quilt 1847, Reproduction Quilts, Smithsonian Fabrics

Can’t talk but I can still write…

June 7, 2011 by Margaret

A week ago at Bookclub, all the other members were talking about their (losing) battles with the latest winter flu.

“have you had it?” one of my bookie friends asked.

“No I never get sick, about 8 years ago I had what my Doctor called ‘the once in 10 year flu’ so I’ll be right for another couple of years”

Ha.

Since the weekend I have felt ghastly.

On doing my sums it’s actually 11 years since I had the once in 10 year flu.

(I’ll be seeing my Doctor later today and squeaking to her that I got a one year bonus)

My voice has all but gone.

Anyway, that means it wasn’t until this morning that I gathered the energy to pop all your names in a box for the draw of Smithsonian fabrics.

Looks pretty good odds to me…

I got DH to draw out two names as I don’t want anyone visiting while I’m all contagious and revolting,

and he picked out Lynne and Mary-Jo in that order.

So Lynne, you get these ones

and Mary Jo you get these ones

Congratulations to you both.

Email me your snail mail addresses and I’ll get them in the post to you

I’ve got quilting work to do today, it’s one of mine on the machine and not terribly difficult (not a lot of brain power needed for that one)

but I will leave you with a photo of the Maltaville centre, still under construction.

Surprisingly that one bunch of grapes was only one evening’s work, from making the 21 individual grapes to sewing them down.

til soon…

4 Comments

Filed Under: Maltaville Album Quilt 1847, Smithsonian Fabrics

Let’s just call this Smithsonian week..

May 31, 2011 by Margaret

I’ve chosen the other four fabrics as part of my anniversary giveaway…

Left to Right: Rising Sun Quilt 'Oak Leaf'; Little Sister's Quilt 'Maze'; Groom's Quilt 'Queen Anne's Lace' and The Copp Quilt 'Harvest Stripe'

This time I have chosen fabrics which are directly reproduced from the quilts whose name they bear.

Oak Leaf #2210-1 in Black/Sage appears in the pieced diamonds of Betsy Totten’s Rising Sun Quilt.

Maze #2304-1 in Green Grass is taken from the leaf and stem forms found in the Little Sister’s Quilt

Queen Anne’s Lace #2402-2 in Crimson appears in applique blocks in The Groom’s Quilt

Harvest Stripe #2507–2 in Muslin Ground appears in some of the unpieced blocks in The Copp Quilt.

So the four American fat 1/4s make up the second prize as explained in the previous post and that’s where you should leave your comments to be in the running.

Ok that’s that, now on to normal blogging.

I’ve been wanting to introduce you to a fantastic quilt designer and teacher for weeks but things kept getting in the way of this intended blog post.

Her name is Margaret McDonald and I’ve had the pleasure of knowing her (and learning from her) for many years.

A month of Sundays ago she invited me round to her place to look at her stash,

I’d hinted I’d like to come because whilst I was quilting one of Margaret’s quilts I had spotted a tiny scrap of …Smithsonian Fabric.

We had a lot of fun playing in her studio-pulling out fabrics/going through selvages/she showed me WIPs and UFOs.

She has recently got her website up and running and is worth a look.

www.margaretmcdonald.com.au

She kindly loaned me a table runner she had on the table, while we were having a cup of tea I spotted several Smithsonian pieces in it and she was happy for me to put it up here to show you.

This was an exercise in showing students what a terrific and diverse colour Brown is.

I hope you get the chance to pop over to her website and have a look, her work is stunning and varied.

I thought while on the theme I would grab another quilt of my own which uses a fair bit of Smithsonian.

This one was finished back in Sept. 1998, but hand quilted so started a year or two before then I think.

I named it Allbrook after the birthplace of my maternal Grandmother.

It reminds me of a faded English eiderdown.

Allbrook was once a village but the city of Eastleigh in Hampshire has grown around it.

It still has its own sign though and as my mother always wanted to see where her mother came from, we visited it in 2006.

Maybe I should make another quilt and call it Otterbourne which is where Nana went to school.

I only had to grab the quilt off the back of the armchair, it always makes me think of Nana so I like to have it around where I can see it.

The Smithosnian fabric is from the Copp Quilt range released in 1996 (I suspect that is when I started Allbrook)

It’s the lighter print, Sweetpea #2504-2 in Muslin/Chestnut.

Interestingly, the tone on tone pink, which came in a couple of similar designs/colourways, was reproduced about a year ago.

I picked up a piece locally. I’ll probably never use it, I just recognised the pattern and had to have a piece out of interest.

This one is marginally larger in scale than my original piece. Mine did have a blue colourway back in 1996 but it was softer looking than this.

Til soon…

4 Comments

Filed Under: 1800s Reproduction Fabrics, Smithsonian Fabrics

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

An Ohio Star Strippy, more Maltaville …and something modern, eeeek.

May 16, 2011 by Margaret

Friday was bleak here in Central Victoria and moving my sewing stuff out of the studio and in to the living room in front of the fire seemed a very inviting proposition.

I cut and sewed like a woman posessed and finished this….

I am really pleased to get this finished (well the top)

You may remember it in progress from here

Just to re-cap this quilt came in to being because I needed to make a quilt based on the Ohio Star block for the Vic. Quilters Showcase in July this year where my local quilt group is being featured.

Originally I had planned it to be a straight set quilt ~ maybe with a narrow sashing in the plain white ~ but it has morphed in to a strippy.

Forty blocks, some of the really fave reds have two blocks and some just one.

On Friday (when I moved in to the living room) I had all the blocks already made,

it was the 400 half square triangles that have taken the time.

I thought it might be quicker than making more blocks.

Jury’s out on that one.

Now that the Ohio Star is as good as done I can get back to concentrating on the Maltaville Quilt centre block.

The vine is all sewn and I will prepare more of the applique pieces this week.

A friend and I are going to the Phillip Island Quilt-in this Saturday and I want to take this with me to work on.

I have chosen the next four blocks for the Maltaville mailout this month…

Block A8

Block A2

Block C1

Block C5

In this bottom one (C5) I have sewn it like the original with its little mishap… I like it this way but have no idea if it was indeed a mishap for the original maker or if this is how she intended it to be.

Last week Jennifer kept me company on a trip to one of my suppliers.

It was her job to find a couple of quilt shops we could visit on the way and she found shops specialising in more contemporary fabrics.

I bought these…

Contemporary and Snazzy

…had to get a Paisley in there didn’t I?

When I was in NZ last month, good friends gave me (and DH) an unexpected and fabulous gift so a quilt idea has been buzzing around in my head in the last few weeks.

A traditional, antique style quilt is just not going to be their ‘thing’ but I think they will like these fabrics and I will have fun working with these.

Not at all what I usually buy, but I really like them.

9 Comments

Filed Under: 1800s Reproduction Fabrics, Applique, Design, Maltaville Album Quilt 1847, Prussian Blues, Reproduction Quilts, Smithsonian Fabrics, Turkey Reds

Red & White Pine Trees Quilt

Happy Holidays

All I want for Christmas is a new studio

Gathering Dust…

Catching up…again.

More Maltaville and another Sydney Quilt

Can’t talk but I can still write…

Let’s just call this Smithsonian week..

I can’t believe it’s been a year…

An Ohio Star Strippy, more Maltaville …and something modern, eeeek.

Comments

Subscribe to my blog

I'm on Instagram and Facebook

My other blog

Blogs, Designers, Magazines and Shops

Archives