A couple of weeks ago, when I asked Catherine E. what kind of quilt she was interested in, she told me she loved the look of Dresden Plate quilts from the 1930s. I started researching it, and discovered something I really should have predicted, but had not: many things on places like eBay turn up from estate sales, and quilt pieces are part of estate sales. I've been staring in fascination ever since.
What I realized: if you're looking for the right type of item, it is possible to pick up actual antique unfinished quilt pieces for less money than it would cost to pick up the same amount of reproduction fabric representing the same period, and make the pieces yourself.
Discretion is required, obviously. I've seen some real nightmares up for sale:
(I should note that there's a question coming at the end)
There. Two quilts out in two days. No, I didn't complete them, start-to-finish, in two days, but they're leaving my house within 48 hours of each other -- and yes, Tenzing is royally displeased. How did you know? Oh, previous photos. Right.
So here's the wrap-up on two quilts:
['Get thee hence!']
Crayon Box heads to South Carolina, to live with Scott Johnson. He had a good bit of input into its final construction; he chose the size as well as the backing/binding, a very dark, foresty green color. It goes in the mail this afternoon, so I feel pretty justified in calling it "completed" on the quilts page.
I've put some craft time this week toward Hallie's hexagon project, which I nicknamed "Remixed." I teased Jeff tonight that I wanted to sit down and actally sew something, so I could say that I was finally making progress on the quilt project. Everything I'd done so far felt more like deconstruction than construction.
Here's a recap, if you're not familiar. Hallie has a lot of quilt pieces she inherited from either her great-aunt or her great-grandmother. I worked up the first set into a quilt a few months ago, and agreed that at some point I'd tackle the second set -- the hexagons.
I photographed all of the full and half hexes some time ago, and played around with them in Illustrator to get some idea of what I wanted to do.
![Items Not To Scale[tm]](http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4016/4573805506_c7f146970a.jpg "Items Not To Scale[tm]")
['Items Not To Scale[tm]']
Date:
28 May 2010 - 17 June 2010
Recipient:
Amanda and Moses
Pattern:
Penrose cartwheel tiling
Level of completion:
Completed and given away
I've made no secret of my intention to do a large Penrose quilt, but I had a sinking feeling a little while ago that I should perhaps consider doing a trial run first instead of cannonballing my ass into the deep end and potentially ruining a lot of fabric that can't be re-purchased here in Huntsville.
I've been more than a little obsessed with tilings ever since Jacob pointed them out to me a few months ago, and I've been quietly storing up tilings I think would make great quilts. At first, I asked myself why other quilters hadn't tackled these visually stunning images for quilt purposes, but eventually it sunk in -- because they're hard. They're demanding. Their continual broken and rebroken lines mean you never get the luxury of straight, long seams or 90° angles. They require piecing odd and funky angles on small pieces over, and over, and over again.
Date:
6 May 2010 - 31 May 2010
Pattern:
Squares, multiple (2", 4", 8")
Level of completion:
Completed and given away
This placeholder has been here long enough that I think I'm safe rewriting it and being more explicit about the details of this quilt. Believe me when I say that keeping this under wraps has been making me crazy, and I've wanted to talk about it -- wanted! wanted!
Annie is a co-worker of mine. Annie is also one of the nicest, sweetest, and most decent people you'll ever meet. She's a pleasure to take a lunch with, and a day-brightener whenever you run into her in the hallway.
Annie's mother, Helen, was also a co-worker of mine until her death from cancer in 2008. One of our branches sponsors a Fun Run every year in her name:
![#91 - We [heart] Helen](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3216/2538319187_485170ee43.jpg "#91 - We [heart] Helen")
['We [heart] Helen']
When Annie announced she was pregnant, there was no question. An email went out shortly afterward:
I admit, I'm more than a little stumped here. I've promised to make a kid quilt for someone (long story why I'm being fuzzy on details, but it is intentional) and I've got a set of fabrics to work with, but oh am I unsure of what to do. Care to meet the players?
Pattern:
Heptagonal (aperiodic?) tiling
Level of completion:
Cutting fabric
As ideas go, this is a pretty insane one. I've been routing my creativity off in a few different directions while stumped on how to proceed with Adam's wedding quilt (sigh, hang head in shame, lather, rinse, repeat) and this direction has been stranger than most.
I've made no secret of my intention of doing a Penrose tiling quilt ('Pentatonic') later this year, and it has sent my brain in lots of new directions. It's caused me to look hard at Islamic tiling patterns, which meant I encountered more aperiodic tilings, and started looking at patterns that weren't based on the fours, sixes, eights, and nines of standard quilting.
He made me promise.
"One for you."
"Yes. I promise."
I bought the pattern - 'Bricks and Stones' in her parlance, 'the white librarian' in mine, and after resizing and redrafting, I knew it was time to do something unusual.
['The "White Librarian" -- plans']
I haven't sewed much this week. Getting ready for Wednesday's rollout at work consumed most of my energy; by the end of each night, all I wanted to do was turn into a little couch lump. Dragging myself to the sewing machine wasn't a high priority; rest and antacids were.
It still feels a little strange, knowing that I'm actually keeping this quilt once it's done.
['Each by each']
This quilt is surprisingly personal. The fabrics were all gifts specifically for me, or have other personal meanings. I mean, c'mon, there's a print about brassieres and a print about sexual positions. It's a bright, bubbly, and bawdy little thing. Of course I'm keeping it.
