Repro Fabrics Galore, Merry Stitching, and Happy Blogging in 2013

Oh dear this blog post was to be my pre-Christmas catch up ~ oooops

I think even if I squint it can’t still be the 25th somewhere in the world so I hope you all had a fabulous day yesterday with the ones you love.

My son is still here as his wife had to work today :-( so he and his Dad are playing with boy toys in the shed and,

after a morning of putting the house back together, I am pottering/tidying in my studio after a perfect day yesterday with my nearest and dearest.

Life is good.

I have a list as long as my arm of things I want to do over January, so a clean and organised studio space is a must.  But of course it doesn’t take long for me to mess it up again.

I still had sitting on the floor the bundles of fabric I bought in Houston, I want to show you them as there are some great fabrics for the repro afficionados amongst us.

I bought these at Cotton in the Cabin ‘s booth at Festival.  Unfortunately the website doesn’t show these wonderful bundles,

image of 19th c repro fabric bundle

labeled Walnut Root Dye circa 1850-1860

 but they are worth a phone call or email I think if you were looking for early repro’s.  I don’t know where in the States they are situated.

Here is the same bundle unrolled for a better look, I’m not sure if Walnut Root Dye circa 1850-1860 was the name of the range or if this is just a mix of era appropriate fabric prints/colours.

image of 19th C repro fabrics

these only have Baum Textiles on the selvage

This next bundle is labeled Bannister Hall c 1830 and this was a range, called Bannister Hall Summerhouse by Xenia Cord for Freespirit.

I don’t recall seeing this range at all in Australia so would be interested to know if it came to our shores.

image of 19th C repro fabric

Bannister Hall Summerhouse by Xenia Cord

I already had those two fat quarters of one print from an earlier US shopping spree so was thrilled to get another fat quarter to play with.

Next up is American Beauty.

image of 19th C repro fabric

American Beauty by Mary Koval for Windham Fabrics

A few of the above I have in the stash already but am down to scarily small amounts so very pleased to have found some more

and the last bundle I bought, although I should’a, could’a, would’a bought many more was titled Koval and Friend,

image of 19th c repro fabrics

just a gorgeous selection of 19th c prints

and is a nice selection of prints.  I checked with Mary and she just laughed,  she couldn’t remember who the friend was but two selvages hint at it being Bethany Fuller.  In the absence of complete selvage info I am guessing these were all Windham fabrics.  A few I had seen before but others were new to me.

From a different booth, I did take a card but can’t put my hand on it at the mo, I found an early piece which intrigued me.

In the picture below it is the base print I found, Discovery by Jinny Beyer for RJR fabrics,

image of Discover America 1492 fabric

Discovery by Jinny Beyer for RJR Fabrics. Commemorating Columbus's 1492 discovery of the Americas.

a commemorative range 1492-1992 of Christopher Columbus’s discovery of the Americas.  The other four fabrics surfaced when my friend Sherry said “I’ve got some of that range” and there ensued a flurry of activity searching the shelves.  A bit of swapping followed and now I have five pieces from the range.

During the same shelf search, these early Jinny Beyer Shirttails surfaced, and thanks to Sherry’s generosity these found their way home with me too.

image of Reproduction shirting fabrics

Jinny Beyer Shirttails for RJR Fabrics

Trawling Sherry’s fabric stash ended up being a Jinny hunt and I have to show you this because I think it’s beautiful.

image of Jinny Beyer fabric

Jinny Beyer for RJR Fashion Fabrics, that's all the selvage says.

A bit of picotage, full blown flowers in that brilliant blue I love ~ it hints at being teal, brown and some Perkins Purple.  Is this one of the best repro’s or what? To my mind it is and it’s from a time when we didn’t really buy repro’s cos we hadn’t coined that term yet.

From Cotton in the Cabin I also bought these two prints from South Africa, these are on the website.

image of Shweshwe quilting fabric

Shweshwe quilting fabric, printed in South Africa by Da Gama Textiles

I think with some tea-dyeing these could pass for mid 19th c Prussian Blue repro’s.  That’s on my list to do through January,

add to list ~ buy plain pack tea bags.

Well it’s nearly 2013 and I am reflecting on what an amazing 2012 I have had, I feel very, very fortunate.

I have had some wonderful opportunities arise and I am grateful I was able to grab them with gusto.  I have met quite a few overseas blogging friends in person this year, you all know who you are and it has been brilliant to meet you all (and y’all).  I have made closer friendships online with others even if we haven’t met up ~ yet… And I have met and made new friends so I am a lucky girl indeed.

Thank you for dropping by and being interested in what I am doing here in my little neck of the woods, I really appreciate the support and friendships I have made here.

But I’m not done yet ;-)

Let me tell you about a couple of blogs.

The first is called PinMoneyQuilts and belongs to a friend from Melbourne, Linda Bear.

Linda had a quilt accepted in to Houston this year and I was pleased to be able to see it and congratulate Linda on her acheivement.

This is the quilt titled Best of Friends, it’s all reverse applique and is stunning.

image of Best of Friends quilt

Best of Friends by Linda Bear, thank you Linda for letting me show it and congratulations.

 The next blog belongs to another Kiwi lass, but unlike me Sharon still lives there.

I met Sharon at the Melbourne Quilt Market, she is the owner and creative force of Sharon Keightly Designs.

As soon as I saw Sharon’s quilts I had to chat with her and was amazed to learn that her applique is all done the invisible machine way, something that’s been on my mind to try for ages but is now on the tangible list for January.

For tonight though it’s the old fashioned needle-turn way as I start block number three of the Cannonsburg Quilt

I should be a bit further along but have not done any hand sewing for about two weeks !!!  It’s been prepped and sitting by my chair but there’s just been too much to do in the lead up to Christmas, so a quiet night in with stitching sounds good to me.

Now that the studio is tidy I will have fun in here and hope you get the time to drop by to see my progress.

til soon

happy stitching

Margaret

 

 

 

Comments

  1. LOVE the quilt, amazing work. just beautiful.
    Some of the fabric lines you purchased are OLD! lucky you!!!!
    you should have bought many of those bundles!!!!
    off to check out the other blogs you listed
    Kathie

    • Thanks Kathie, oh I would have loved to have bought more, I had to put quite a few back, worried about the bulging suitcase vs the cost of sending home LOL. But it was great to see some of these really old lines. And to realise that I still love them and will use them. Hope all is well in NJ and that your state is starting to return to normal after Sandy.
      M :-)

  2. Gorgeous fabrics, beautiful quilts! May the coming year be filled with lots more (and happiness and joy and all you wish for) Ady

  3. janet (gina) says:

    Love all of your fabrics and what good friends to share their stash. Will check out the new blogs. Happy New Year and as always I look forward to your next post.

  4. Hi Margaret

    How lovely of you to write about my blog. Thank you so much. I have fabric stash envy, your fabrics are gorgeous.
    Glad you had a lovely Xmas.
    Sharon

  5. Hi Margaret thanks for the kind words and blogging my quilt. I must say that it is my best work to date.
    I met Sharon as well at the Melbourne Quilt Market,lovely to talk to someone who feels the same way about quilts as we do. she is an amazing quilter too!

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