Sewing and Ripping

Hurray, an actual quilt finish for the week.  I wrote about this little quilt last June (see the post here) when I finished the piecing.  I don't know how long it might have stayed in my to-do pile, except for an approaching deadline for Christmas quilts for the local charity.  Deadlines can be really motivating.

Here's another view, laid out on the floor.  This was a panel, and the top and bottom green borders were originally on the sides, which would have made a square quilt.  I like rectangular quilts, especially if people are going to use them, so that's why I changed it.  (Sometime I'll tell you about the traumatic experience of sleeping under a square quilt as a kid.)

I quilted wavy lines across the quilt from edge to edge, which I think you can see here.  I used a stencil, and marking was a real pain, due to all the different light and dark patches.  I used a chalk marker and a sketch and wash pencil, and I kept saying to myself, "If you can't see it, you can't quilt it".  It didn't occur to me until after I finished that I could have marked the back instead of the front and not had that problem. (sound of hand thunking forehead)

Here's my favorite block, a black sewing machine tied with a bow.

Naturally, while I'm short on time for everything and have a closet full of UFOs, I started another project.  This is a tied quilt I bought at an antique store several years ago.

If it looks odd to you, you have a good eye.  The blocks date from the 1880s or so, and the set is pure 1960s.

The blocks were pieced together with turquoise solid fabric, and tied with brown yarn.  The back of the quilt was brought over to the front as a binding.  There was no batting, just a large piece of unbleached muslin between the layers.
When I saw this quilt in the antique store, I just had to rescue these blocks.  This is my favorite way to study old fabrics--by holding them in my hand.  And there are so many different fabrics here.

So I took it all apart!  It took several days, but here's what I got out of it--61 usable blocks, 16 blocks with shredded fabric, lots of turquoise pieces to cut into squares, a large backing piece, a large piece of muslin to use for backing string blocks, and some border pieces I can cut into strips.

Here are some of the good blocks.  The turquoise edge will either be cut away or unpicked.

These are some of the blocks with bad fabric.  The browns just didn't hold up, mainly because of the dyes used back in the day.

Now I have to figure out what to do with these great blocks.

This one is my favorite.  Look at all the tiny pieces!

No progress yet on the leaf quilt.   I keep looking at it and thinking about it.  Sometimes I hear the Jeopardy theme in my head when I'm staring at it.

It has been a lovely fall week here, with lots of sunshine and temps in the 50s and 60s.  That might sound cool depending on where you live, but in Wisconsin in November it's downright balmy.

My dog and I are going to take a walk later.  Don't tell her, she doesn't know what "later" means and will be jumping at the back door, joyfully barking.

Do something nice for yourself today.  To me, sewing is the nicest thing of all.
Cheers,
Sylvia

P.S.  I'm linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts this week.  Check out all the great blogs linked there!