Confetti Snowflakes at Zion Quilt Top

Snow days are great because one can leave aside the list of things needing to be done and concentrate all the energy and attention needed to quilt something.  Here I've made up a bunch of confetti snowflakes.  They are not sewn together... just laid out for a view.  As this quilt develops I will add more pics. 

It takes a lot of discipline to overcome our sense of regularity, I've learned.  Often I want to square off the misshapen corners and 'fix' bad lines almost by instinct.  Here I worked at not letting myself come up with something too regular.  It is a habit shared by every quilter who has made utility quilts and want nothing to go to waste.  For these shapes it does take a bit more fabric, as you'll be trimming away the excess to get an 8 inch square.

These squares were foundation pieced on regular copy paper.  Fold over a sheet, and cut off the part at the bottom to square it up.  Or to put it another way, cut paper into 8 inch squares and put a stack by your machine, then foundation piece from the middle to the outside.  Here I cut odd shaped pieces of fabric that I had hand-dyed, for the middles.  Add, framing around the edge and use black as your outermost color sometimes.  To give away the ending... I used black sashing to expand the top size and will post it after some more work.

So, having never used copy paper--- or rather so much of it, I was faced with a lazy quilter's dilemma.  How do I peel off all of those backings?  I tried spritzing with water and peeling with my fingernail, but that was a slow go.  So I tossed the whole top in the dryer with some wet heavy towels and that got about half of the backings off.  I threw those away, then tried washing in the washer.  Hooboy.  Don't try that.  I ended up with lint galore on the front of all this black sashing and blocks.  I'm finishing the top borders now, and will want to put it back in for another try in the washer before I spend a lot of energy batting and backing and quilting something that may always look fuzzified.

Informal Velvet Quilt Piece

Who knows where I got this raggedy piece of velvet quilt.  I only remember that it was sort of grimey and I wondered if I could restore it to usefulness.  I took the risk of throwing it into the washer and the back shredded into threads, so I ripped that off, and along with it came the thin edge on one side.  When it was fresh and clean, I just stored it for years.  Today, its is unlikely to find this sort of cotton velvet which is heavy but not backed with an upholstery texture.  Most velvets have some synthetic content now.  I'd guess it is from 1970 or before-- back then the synthetics were not as likely to be blended and not as likely to be nylon.

See how the triangles were constructed?  Peach and gold were sewn together on one side, and then a line was sewn linking together two such squares.  That way, no one had to actually turn that sharp corner and try to line up the pieces.  For a long time, I was scared of triangles because of the problem of making points, until I discovered that.  (Now, I'm just scared of making triangles because I warp things when I sew on the bias. )

So I am guessing that originally, this had 6 triangle panels, and then it was bordered with various colored velvet scraps of odd lengths.  The common factor is that all the velvet scraps were cut at, ie about 6 inch widths.

Its just a nice old piece of a velvet quilt, waiting to some day be batted and backed as a shabby Anthropology-style throw.  Then perhaps, I'd eventually come along and embroider it lavishly as I sit beneath it on cold winter nights.

Tibbits Blue TieDye Quilt

Here's a joyous riot of colors in this quilt made for my husband's father and step-mother.  It features a lot of  fabrics from Keepin U N Stitches at Jay, Oklahoma and the centerpiece is one of my hand-dyed Kona panels.  I machine-stitched the strip pieces and applied custom machine quilting, including a few mysterious words in the stitching.... such as the fact that it was quilted on Solstice 2010.  If you are in this geographical area, rent the longarm machine at the quilt and fabric shop above, for about $10 an hour to do your very own machine quilting--- you can buy back and bat there, and run your backing seam.  Then Keepin U N Stitches will provide you with thread from their choice or you can bring your own tread and bobbins if you have something particularly unusual in mind. 

Confetti Quilt Top

Confetti Quilt Top is one of the tops in the Nana Series.  The centerpiece "log cabin" pattern is made in part from Nana's fabric stash.  This one is pictured not yet quilted.

Imaginarium, a Scrap Baby Quilt

Imaginarium, a charm quilt for baby

This is a baby quilt, made from leftovers from a quilt which I am making for myself.  It is a little fancier than most charm quilts.  Charm quilts are named for their 'charm' because they are made from scraps which sometimes do and sometimes do not blend well.  Charm quilts tend to be more funky and campy than their sister-quilts-- matched piece quilts.  A unique feature of this quilt is that it has some of the prairie points and flat trim from the big quilt, and it adds interest and detail. 

There are some jokes or funny parts to this quilt that will make you laugh if you're a quilter.  I'll let ya in on the secret.  A beginner quilter might make borders such as the stripe and print here, and might attach one edge backward or going to same direction as the other side as I have done.  Experienced quilters would never do that because it violates the rules of symmetry.  However, Fluffy I am and Fluffy I do, so here the borders on both sides are going in the same direction.   It was a conscious choice. 

Another quilter's joke is that in places you'll find prairie points or flat trim, and not in other places that one would expect to see the same thing.  So happens that I made up some extra length of these and attached them to sashing, only to destine them to the cutting-room floor. 

Here I have followed the old legal maxim of equity, known to law students throughout time from Black's Law Dictionary (or Prosser on Torts) "You take your victim as you find him."  In law, it means that a tort defendant is liable for the outcome even if a tort Plaintiff or victim is extraordinarily impacted.  If you trip a waiter with brittle bones simply in revenge because of poor service, you must pay the price of the damage you do, even if an average waiter would not suffer greatly from being tripped.  Likewise, I've 'taken my victim as I found him' in my scrap pile.  Some strips with Prairie Points don't have a full row.  Well, tough cookies.    My goal was to quilt up that mess in the floor.  The result is that you have a few unexpected things happening on this quilt.

This juvenile quilt top is for sale as a top ($100) or fully custom machine quilted, batted and backed with the contrast or match fabric of your choice ($300).    

Steam Punk Quilt Top

Today's post is a fun quilt top that I made in late October.  I found steam punk image fabric and designed the remainder of the quilt around these nice pieces with themes of time and travel.

I was attending the Governor's Water Conference and took my sewing machine, so I would have something to do in the evenings.  When I travel without Dennis I miss him, so quilting is something I can do while I am alone.

This fun quilt is just a top thus far, and can be made up with any solid or print backing in Standard, Queen or King for $400.00 complete.  It can be custom quilted with names, initials, secret messages and the like, in any color(s) of thread.

Kai's Fuzzy Quilt

Here on his daddy's Ju Jitsu mat, is a fuzzy soft quilt made for Kai Brinkley.  The fake fur looks wrinkled, but its actually colored and napped like that.  This was a joyous fun campy utility quilt, made in the spirit of grandmothers of days gone by, who would piece together warm flannel scraps with no particular pattern.  This one, I've seamed on the outside.  After washing, these seams will fuzz up and add a bit of loft to the quilt.  Then if it is laid on Baby Kai with the cozy flannel side down, it will give a little bit more room for an air layer.  It is larger than crib size, smaller than a sofa throw, and designed for playing on the floor or snuggling at night.

Note:  Shopping for fabric I noted that 3 of the most popular main chain stores are selling novelty prints with childrens' themes in fabrics that say "Not suitable for sleepwear."  You may have to look on the bolt end, the selvedge or inside the flat card to find the warning.  Don't use such flannels for quilts because they are flammable, even if these stores seem to theme the flannels for childrens' bedwear and bedding.  In my opinion, these should be removed from the shelves or the warning should be prominently displayed.

Making Flat Trim

Flat Trim is a dressy, crisp 3-D insert that will give your quilt some interest.  It looks hard to do but it is easy.  See my hand under this striped piece?  There is also a flat trip piece on the other side of the turquoise strip which can be lifted up.  It is as easy as Prairie Points, only easier.  Here's how:

1.  Get a length of fabric and square it up by doing this:  Snip and rip off the selvedge.  Now go to the fold and snip it about an inch from the edge.  Rip.  This should peel off any bad angles.  You can always do it again if you can't rip all the way to the end.  Tip:  Always rip fast and hard with plenty of Oomph.  This will prevent warping the weave.

2.  What Size?   Whatever size you want your trim to be, double that and add the width of your seam.  So, if you want a 2 inch trimpiece, make each strip 4 inches wide plus as wide as the seam will be.

3.  Measure, Rip.  Measure your distance at the fold.  Snip in an inch.  Measure your distance at the fold.  Snip in an inch.  Repeat.  I just save the last strip in my 'bone pile' as it may be crooked, yet I have it if I am running shy.

4.  Seam Them.  Gather up all those strips and sew seam, sew seam, sew seam.  I don't even bother to cut the thread each time.  I cut all threads after I've sewn the seams.  See?  That's how they do it in the factories, so they don't spend so much time.

5.  Fold and Iron.  Or Not.  I am not much of an ironer.  So, I just foldover the OUTSIDE showing, and zigzag down the whole long snakey trim piece, at the edge.  Just like store-bought!

6.  Now you're ready to sew your trim to the border.  You can either take a minute to actually sew it on before sandwiching the seam, or try to hold it all together.  Tip:  If you are just sewing some lightweight piees together, skip sewing down the trim as a first step and go straight to the sandwiching.  But if you are working with 2 pieces of vastly different weights (ie, a big quilt top you have fabricated already), then sewing the trim as a first step will give you a neater outcome.

Thereya Go!  These flat trim pieces are so tailored and smart-looking for a custom artisan look.  And they are easy enough to make, that they're great even for a beginner's quilt.

How To Make Prairie Points

Prairie Points are these showy little triangles peeping out of the seam on a quilt.  You'll find them most often along the edges of quilts.  Unliked scalloped edges, these are easy to make.  Here's how:

Select your fabric.  A dramatic contrast or stark stripes might give your project some punch.  If you choose something that 'matches' too closely, your prairie points may seem like a lot of work for very little visual impact.  (Here, I've used birch tree trunks, with batiks and a festive print.)  You can buy and yard and go back if you need more. 

Snip and rip off the selvedge piece with the fabric's name on it.  Now rip a straight line...  You do this by finding the fold of the fabric, and snipping about an inch in from the edge.  You will rip it from the middle to the edges in both directions at once.  Now you have a true straight line.

Cut Strips... Using a tape measure or the ruler on a cutting board, snip in about an inch on the fold, every 4 inches.  When you get to the last one, it might not be square if the fabric was not cut precisely, so I always throw the last piece into the 'bone pile' in my sewing room floor.  You will have it there if you need it, and if not you may use it later for potholders or pillowcases.

Make the Strips Square... Lay your strip longwise and make a snip every four inches, then rip each into a 4 inch square.  Tip:  If you are precise, lay 2 or 3 strips atop each other and cut multiples all the way thru instead of ripping. 

Stack and Fold... Stack them up on your ironing board.  Get one.  Fold into a triangle.  Fold into a triangle again.  Iron.  Stack 'em in a finished pile.  Repeat till all are done.  Tip:  If you use a stripe, you *might* prefer to fold them with the fold going the same direction.  If you're making horizontals and you get a vertical, turn it over.  Its magic!

Zigzag them Down... Sew these down onto your sashing or border strip using a zigzag stitch.  You'll hide that when you sew the quilt top seam.

Finish and Admire... Now lay your border strip under the quilt top.  Eleanor Burns, author of Quilt In A Day Series, gives this tip and it makes your project move more smoothly in the machine.  Quilt your regular size of seam.

I love these!  This is my first quilt with Prairie Points and they're so easy plus fancy.  When you quilt your top, you may wish to seam along whichever side you wish in order to lay them up toward the top of the bed, or down toward the edge of the quilt.

Tuscan Memories

Here's a sassy bright big quilt top that I made to match those new plaster and glaze terra cotta walls.  And its easy.  Pick out 9 pieces of fabric that pick up the colors in your room. 

Tip:  Shop some place like a quilt fabric store, so you'll get square cuts.  Often the bargain and discount stores are rushed or don't have employees trained to cut fabric on a square 90-degree angle.  Why does that matter?  You'll want to rip some strips, and you will lose the use of a lot more than just an inch if the cut is off.

Get a half-yard of fabric from each bolt, and get thread. 

At home, snip the selvedge and strip that off of each piece.  Now go in about an inch from the edge of fabric, and snip it at the fold so you can rip right down the edge to give yourself a true and straight ripline.  Measure four inches in, and snip/rip again.  Measure four inches and snip/rip again.  Do this till the last one... it might not be square.  Start yourself a "bone pile" in the corner of the floor in case you do need part or all of it later.

Repeat this step for all 9.  You'll end up with a bunch of piles of strips, so sit down at the machine and randomly seam them together, about as long (or about as wide) as you want your middle "bricks" to be.

Do you want bricks going across?  Or down?  Choose your direction and start sewing the strips together.  You'll end up with a rectangle about the size of the middle 'brickey' part of this quilt.  If your edges are not square, trim those neat.

Now go back to the store.  Pick 4 contrasty colors.  I got 3 yards, 2 yards, 1 yard and 1 yard, but that's too much.  Why did do that?  Because 3 yards is longer than any quilt stirp and saves me from having to seam the longest pieces.  Call it lazy.  Or call it 'adding to my stash of fabric.'  You never know when you'll want to make matching pillow cases.

There are 2 tricky advanced techniques on this otherwise super quick and supersimple quilt....
1.  Prairie Points
2.  Flat Folded Trim
You can skip these if it is your first quilt, or read tomorrow's blog for more "how to."

Have I given you enough basics to set yourself free to just start sewing pieces together till its big and beautiful?  That is how I quilt... with little regard for standard sizing.  I want a quilt big enough to cover the edges when we are snuggled in on a cold winter day.  I want a quilt that is not so very long that its weight would pull or work its way to the foot of the bed if we're underneath it.

These are basic instructions for a quilt top in a day or two.  More later on the details, such as batting, backing, binding, etc.

Green Nana Quilt Topper

Green Bed Topper Quilt from Nana's Fabric

Here's the latest small "bed topper" quilt in the series I have been making from fabrics saved from Nana's sewing closet.  When she passed away in February, I brought home a box of her fabrics and have been making quilt tops for her grandchildren.  Gracie Piddlewhiskers is a good helper when I quilt, because she chases the threads and models quilt tops as soon as she sees me laying them out for a view.

Cherokee Green & Orange Bed Topper Quilt

This fun quilt top is one of a series of several I'm doing for the grandchildren of my parents.  The central panel is made largely from fabric of my mom, and I've added at the bottom (in orange) a hand-dyed panel with the Cherokee letter for Wv.  It sounds like Wuh, only a bit more nasal, and it kinda looks like a 6 in numerals.

This one is edged in black and white stripes, giving it punch and impact.  Its just a top and will be quilted soon when I finish them all and have a day to visit the machine quilting studio to quilt it myself.

Pink and Blue Floral Topper Quilt

Number Two in the series of quilt toppers made from Nana's scraps is this pink and blue topper.  Woops!  I see a mistake that I never noticed before.  See how in the middle the pink rectangles are on the outside corners?  All but one?  And the one that is in the upper righthand corner of the lower righthand corner should be in the corner also.  Apparently, I sewed the gold-looking print border on the wrong side and it caused me to sew the whole square in sideways.  If you don't quilt, it might be a year or two before someone would finally notice and wonder why that wasn't symmetrical.

The Nana Quilt Topper series involves a lot of florals and prints with easter bunnies and eggs.  There were plenty of fabrics I could not use because they were voile dotted swiss or some other shirtweight fabric that isn't strong enough to withstand the rigors of quilt life.

This one will go to one of Nana's four beautiful granddaughters--- some of the most gorgeous young women in the Cherokee Nation.  Smartest, too.

Optical Snowball Quilt Top, 1950s

1950s Optical Snowball

See yesterday's bowtie quilt for a similar yet different one.  This quilt top was made a decade earlier.  See how the colors are different, and have for example, complimentary color wheel colors in the turquoise and chartreuse?  (This is one of my fave color combinations).  See how the plaids are more "American Western"?  If you look at the turquoise and chartreuse "bow ties" in the lower righthand area, you'd see similarities with yesterday's quilt.  But look at how the circles are really round.  Quilters scream and run away at the thought of piecing round shapes.  Think about how round shapes are the opposite curve of the piece they're being attached-to.  Like putting in a gathered sleeve, you never quite know if you're on track until you get to the end and check to see if there is fabric overhanging on either side.

I adore this quilt.  Why?  Because the use of the black checkered gingham fabric makes me crazy!    Big round postholes are like a textural collage on the surface.  And in other places, the pattern drops mistily and indistinctly into the background.  Now look at the block below the red square.  Its like spaghetti or wheels in motion.  You can tell that the woman who made this quilt was not over-intellectualizing the process.  She just put things together any which way.  We could speculate that a quilt like this was made by a woman who learned her skills in the depression era, when it didn't really matter what the right way was... a seamstress just did whatever conserved the most fabric and minimized the most waste.  It was Lllooonnnnggg before the days of fussy-cutting quilt fabrics.

This quilt is small twin or personal quilt size.  It is a top only.  It would be for sale for $75 as a top, or $250 quilted and backed in the colors of the buyer's choice.  It could be edged out with a border of historically-accurate fabric to make a full, king, queen quilt for $450.  It is hand-sewn.

1960s Bowtie Quilt Panel

1960s Bowtie Quilt Panel

Don't you just love those pop art quilts using stark contrast to trick your eyes into seeing different parts of a quilt?  This one was probably made in the 1960s, if my take on the fabrics is accurate.  It contains bowties made up of a four-square with a diamond block in the middle of it.  I don't know who made it.  Its a partial quilt top, about four feet by 3 feet in size. 

Now, look again.  Focus on the roundish square made between the two green bowties near the bottom and middle.  See how that "square" is actually eight-sided?  Sometimes ladies make a SNOWBALL quilt using this same pattern, by accentuating the round part and then fading out the surrounding pieces in a monotone of background.

This piece is so very informal that I keep looking at it from different angles like my eyes are playing tricks.  The bowtie is green.  Now it is pink.  That plaid middle is no help in giving context.  Women with no art training (or quilt training for that matter) just exhuberantly made things up as they went along, and the result is wacky quilts for fun.

Pin Wheel Quilt

Pinwheel Quilt

Somehow along the way I have sort of lost track of my quilt provenances.  I don't recall how I came to own this lovely bright happy quilt top.  It is small and it is oh-so-badly stitched (by hand).  But it is darling, and one day if I ever find the time to take it and quilt it up....

Bootleggers and Quakers, and a Family Quilt

Bigmom's Quilt

My grandmother was Mary Katherine Enlow Kirk Davis.  She grew up around Notchie and Blackgum and Qualls, then lived at Boudinot, Stone Chapel and Tahlequah.  She was a seamstress and tailor, and she owned a dry cleaners.  She had five children and four of them were girls.  So back in the 1940s and 1950s she designed and executed a lot of prom dresses and fancy girls' outfits, not just for her own daughters but also for all of their friends.  She was pretty amazing as a seamstress.  Cherokee County was kinda different when she was a teenager.  Her brother Roy had the first car and was quite the popular guy.  Roy, um, was a bootlegger.  He was older and Mary would get her parents' permission to spend the night at his house in town, along with her girlfriend.  Roy kept a stock of bootleg liquor under the flooring in his house, and the girls would help him lift out the bottles so he could load up his car to make a delivery.  She told me, "Daddy would have been ashamed if he knew we'd been helping with bootlegging.  They didn't know Roy was involved in that.  But he'd give us money to buy a new dress every time we helped him and I'd come home with that new dress, looking proud."  Bigmom also told about life at Qualls when she lived there with her parents.  One time Pretty Boy Floyd came to their house and, as was the custom, anyone who came for a visit was invited to join in for a meal.  He left some money under his plate.

Cherokee County was the home of a few outlaws back in those days and later on.  Perhaps some time this blog will tell the story of Kye Carlile, who was just kinfolks to most folks around what is now the North end of Lake Tenkiller.  Back then, he was a wanted man. 

My grandmother passed away when my daughter Katy was about 4 years old, so it must have been 1989.  She was the most patient and happy, hard-working and skilled woman I have ever met.  She was funny and I always loved to stay with her because we'd make cookies without a recipe or eat big globs of honeycomb, drink Nehi Grape Soda, plant trees, pick strawberries or peaches, play with dogs, gather eggs, shop for Easter dresses-- and once she let me eat Exlax Chocolate because I threw a fit for it.  We had tea parties with the neighbor girls, too.  I don't think she ever said anything harsh to me.  She claimed to be kin to Ulysses Grant, but made me promise not to talk about it because he was bad to drink and had disgraced the family.  She said that one of men in her family in generations past (Abraham Enlow) was the birth father of Abraham Lincoln, and that Abraham Lincoln's mother had worked as a servant to the Enlows.  She was from Quaker ancestors and her parents were fervently religious.  She was a Nazarene for a while there. 

When my grandmother passed, my aunts wanted me to have this quilt by her.  I was the only family member quilting at that time, and this is just a quilt top.  I have been saving it to make up for a wedding gift for my daughter (oops too late) or a niece.  It is sateen blocks set into what you might call a lightning bolt pattern in pastels.  I'm guessing she was making it for Katy and just never finished it.  It looks like bright Mexican giant rickrack.  Sateen is not a sturdy or durable fabric, so I just take it out every few years and admire it and then put it back into a dark closet, waiting for some future time.

Walnut-Dyed Chief's Quilt

I made this fun quilt quite a few years back, and it won an award in the Cherokee National Holiday Quilt Show.  You can see that some of the fabrics are satin.  Satin is not a dyer's cloth because it doesn't absorb and hold color without being shocked.  Um, that means "runined."  So look at the shiny strips-- those are the commercial satin.  The flat strips are hand dyed with walnut hulls.  The cool thing about walnuts, you already know if you've ever picked up big dog food sized bags of them in the fall--- they stain.  On a nice Autumn day when Kanny and Kaleb were little, our Saturday fun was to station a drum and wheelbarrow in the yard, and practice throwing walnuts into the barrel from wherever we found them in the yard.  (It soon became apparent that walnuts may go IN to a wheelbarrow, but if so they'll probably knock out at least as many or more walnuts in doing so.)  So there we were at the end of the day, with brown stained hands that nothing could clean except time.

Later in the winter a pickle barrel full of walnuts was sitting under the eave and got filled with rainwater.  THAT is a stinky mess.  I took a bunch of recycled sheets and jammed them down in the water, covering with a lid, and let them soak till Spring.  I didn't use any mordant or fixer, and I didn't precondition them with alum or anything.  In fact, they had been washed with soap on multiple occasions and were plain white sheets.

I was delighted when I pulled them out and saw the subtle shading.  Some places were foxed from being at water level.  Some places were paler or darker.  Even some sheets took the color better than others.  It is amazing to get disparate results like on these strips when using basically the same technique, right down to putting them in the same dyepot.  We can guess that there may have been a difference in the cotton content, with some sheets having more synthetic fibers... although I thought they were all cotton.  Even bleaching in a former life may have influenced the color variance.  The circle and the color "clouds" are all things that showed up in the natural dyeing process.

A cool thing about walnut dyeing is that walnuts are plentiful--- you just use the hulls and all.  And it can be done long and slow without a rigorous process.  Or it can be done quickly over a boil with stirring for more of a vat-dyed outcome (even coloration).  I suspect that temperature influences color intensity, as do the amount of water mixed with the hulls and the age of the hulls.  Green hulls would give a silvery champagne tone and oozy black hulls would give darker tones.  Basket reed dyers will attest to the fact that different natural fibers, whether it be fabric or reed, wood or wool, will take the dye differently.  Some fibers such as silk will be hard to color without using some technique to grab and bite the color.  Silk is just hard to dye sometimes.

I think this quilt was commercially quilted by Wavalene at Living Designs in Tahlequah and it is probably lo-loft batted with a pantogram design perhaps that Wavalene has created.

I was experimenting with pintucking when I worked on this quilt.  I had seen a beautiful dress of Rachel Martin in a Cherokee art book.  I think it is in a museum in Tennessee.  Rachel Martin was a distant relative and of a notable Cherokee family in history, and her spectacular dress had a lot of pintucking and pleats.  Here's a detail view showing the informal pintucking on the header and footer borders of this quilt:

Doesn't the marbling from walnut dye and the funky pintucking make for an elegant and complex visual experience?  This quilt is sort of plain but it has interesting visual and tactile textures.

What's So Remarkable About This Raggedy Bit?

What's So Remarkable About This Raggedy Bit?

When my cousin had a garage sale, I bought a couple of quilts.  One was a glittery fifties heavy cabin quilt that had been made out of tufted fifties upholstery fabric with the metallic thread loops.  And the other one was a dark, rough hand quilted quilt that had been made from mens twill pants and dark wool pants.  I'm guestimating that it was quite old... maybe from the 1930s or so.  It looked like this:

When I washed it, the heavy old dark thing sort of came apart in a few places, and it became apparent that inside was an even older quilt that had been used as the batting.  Carefully, I removed a few of the shells of quilting that had held the layers together.  This revealed a remarkable mystery--- an even older quilt that was SOOO old that the colors had almost faded away.  Inside, it was all hand quilted still yet, and I could make out a quilted pattern.  Squares were about nine inches, and some squares had charm strip piecing pointed inward, so four squares together looked like arrows pointing in with  > < the tails pointing out.  The fabrics were diverse.  There was a red dotted swiss that looked like it had been flocked.  There were teensy tiny blue gingham wove checks and the same in pink or what may have once been red.  The back of the inner quilt was wholecloth of  the same blue gingham.  I noticed some silk pieces.  And a kind of fabric that is textured in squares with gauze or thin cotton between thicker cotton weave.  One of the solid squares is today yellow, and it may have been either yellow or green originally.

If you are interestedin helping to establish the history of this quilt, please contact me.  I think it is very very old, like more than a hundred years old.  The only provenance is that was a heavy winter quilt in my uncle's cabin back in the 1960sand was later owned by my cousin Cathy Burns Carter, so we don't know if has been in the family for longer than that.

Pop Art Vintage Footballs Quilt

Pop Art Vintage Footballs Quilt

Does anyone have a clue what this pattern is called?  This is a magic quilt.  It appeared in my collection and I have totally forgotten how it got there.  It contains those great 1960s or 1970s  cottons, although some of the fabrics may date back to an earlier time.  Here you find those difficult curved lines and points that have all but disappeared from contemporary quilts, because they are not so easy to execute on a sewing machine as by hand... and what woman today has the zillions of hours it takes to hand-sew a quilt top?

This one is hand-pieced, and hand quilted in shells with a thin soft cotton batt.  The binding is a half-inch self binding, but one end has a flat crisp 1 1/2 " binding with no batting inside of it.  I'm guessing that its function was to help the bed maker to find the top of the quilt because it is different there.

I'm so grateful for the women of our past who were quilters and left us these big soft wrinkley warm huggy pieces of art, all vibrant and complex.  This one is especially 'woofy' and it doesn't lay flat.  It gets a new surface of puffiness every time it is smoothed one way or the other.  Some quilts are too fragile for use because they might never survive the washing.  But they can be stabilized if they are batted and backed with new fabric and machine quilted with plenty of stitches to nail down the remaining surface fibers so they cannot shred.