Welcome to Treadlestitches!
I'm still celebrating Independence Day! This is how far I've gotten on Bonnie Hunter's Fourth of July pattern, which I'm using for leaders and enders. Only twelve blocks, but I can see how it's going to go together. As an added plus, it uses dark blue, which is the color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.
Here's a little novelty surprise--it's Uncle Sam! I think this is the last scrap I have of this fabric. Of course it had to find its way into this quilt.
So that's red, white, and blue. What about pink?
This is my Kings Crown/Log Cabin quilt top, sewn together at last. And of course there is a story.
These blocks take me back to the first time I went to the AQS quilt show in Paducah, Kentucky. To me, this was the ultimate quilt heaven, days of shows and vendors and quilt everything! I think this was in the 1980s, and I went with a wonderful group of friends from Ohio.
When I walked into the vendor hall for the first time, I was absolutely dazzled. At one of the first booths, there were antique quilts and fabrics and blocks, and I was blown away. I was also blown away by the prices! I was used to finding scruffy projects in junk stores, and here were beautiful quilts and tops being sold for what they were actually worth.
But there was a bin of scruffy stuff, and these blocks were in it. They cost 50 cents each. Of course I bought them.
When I got home and the dazzle wore off, I could see what a big problem these blocks would be to sew into a quilt. "Crooked" does not even describe the distortions.
I had fun tracking down the pattern, though. This is the King's Crown pattern from Ruby McKim in her book One Hundred and One Patchwork Patterns, first published in the 1930s.
It also appeared in the Ladies Art Company catalog, at least by 1929, shown here in the bottom row, second from left.
Neither one of these was exactly the same as my block. It was smaller than either pattern, and the colors were reversed from the LAC pattern. I was also mystified by the name. It really didn't look like a crown.
The blocks were in my basement "collection" for years, more as reminders of that awesome trip to Paducah than as a start for a quilt. Having time during the pandemic made me think about actually finishing them. When in doubt, log cabin! I pulled 1.5 in. strips in blues and white/cream, put them in baskets beside the treadle, and added strips (AFTER I squared up the blocks to 6.5 in.!)
Once I got the first four blocks done, I could see the crown! The blue strips formed a cross in the center of the crown. It reminds me of many old hymns about the Cross and Crown.
It is hard to tell how old these King's Crown blocks are. Double pink prints were produced for at least a century, and unbleached muslin has been around forever. There is machine stitching on most of the blocks, but that doesn't tell us much either. I used my reproduction 1800s scraps to give it a late 1800s/early 1900s feel.
Biddy the cat helped me decide where to put the stars on the borders. I added them at the top and bottom to make it rectangular rather than square.
I used some of my favorite blue fabrics in this quilt. The lighter blue star above is made with Liberty of London fabric that I bought at their store in London on our first trip to England in 1996.
The dark blue strip with the gold flowers is also a Liberty print I bought that same day. Both of these blues were on the clearance rack, and are not the usual florals one thinks of as Liberty print. I'm using them sparingly, but I think some scraps might go into the Fourth of July quilt!
The outer border is the same fabric as the border on my little table runner from last week. When finished, the quilt will measure 72 in. x 82 in.
The corners of the quilt are new blocks, made from my repro double pink. I didn't quite have enough original blocks for this setting.
I will probably ask a phenomenal quilter friend to long arm it for me. This one will be a keepsake quilt, with lots of good memories sewn in.
Speaking of good memories, we are making some every day. Our daughter is back to working full time, so we are full time babysitters again. Little Buddy wants to help us take care of Baby Buddy, but sometimes he really has his hands full! (Don't worry, there was a spotter not in the picture!)
This week, I'm wishing good new memories for all of us. Times are hard, I know, but there is always some good mixed with the bad. Take care of yourself, and stay safe!
Cheers for reading,
Sylvia@Treadlestitches
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