Artful Homemade Quilts Have A Way

[beautress]

Here's a cutie bordered with golden colors:

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[beautress]

I like this one, because its maker used EVERYTHING I would have tossed aside (5/8" strips that show 1/4" or less) to add to this masterful play with batik materials:

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[beautress]

I'm guessing this quilter has a lot of quilter friends and may belong to a quilt guild. Just look at all these fabrics. Did they come from one and only one stash? As I said, I'm guessing she has generous friends who love her work and want her to have variety she needs to keep on making quilts like the one below....

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[beautress]

In the past few years, some quilters have developed a love for using those colorful selvages that manufacturers use to show quilters the print colors that were used to create the fabric that was purchased, and they put them on the border edges of the fabric (selvages) to assist the quilter in purchasing other fabrics to complement the quilt, which a lot of people find is truly a good thing. Sometimes these last few years, the selvages are so attractive, people have decided to make quilts using the selvages they can find, and even decide on which fabrics to use based on how cute the colorful dots, stars, acorns, or whatever shape the designer affixes in to the selvage area. Below is a long-in-the-making quilt made from these narrow strips, which are transformed into much more as you can gauge for yourself with just one look sometimes:

I'm a widow, but I would love cuddling up under this quilt any long and lonely night, because it makes me smile to look at it and admire the unknown quilter for her amazing handiwork.​

 

[beautress]

Here's as close to a "Steps to the Whitehouse" block quilt as I've ever seen, except this one may have taken a quarter of the time that sewing one strip at a time takes going around the block in log cabin fashion. This one likely had a very bright maker who capitalized on sewing long strips together with a common light color, cut them into squares, and then proceeded to figure out a schema of on-point strip blocks aligned to look like an on-point Steps to the Whitehouse traditional block quilt. My kudos to this mathematically graced quilter.

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[beautress]

This quilt could be something you've never heard of. It's a "Pinecone" quilt that starts in the center with folded squares or folded narrow points directed toward a center and winding its folded pieces to cover the raw edges (or other method), around and around to the outside border of the foundation piece. Trust me, it takes 5 times as much fabric as a regular quilt, or yet more. You can easily sink 2 or 3 yards of squares folded every-which-way to go around and around to the outside. The quilts weigh a ton (not really) and are quite as warm as can be with all that trapped air in a well-made folded fabric quilt. Of course, if you've quilted for years or just had a penchant for folded quilts, you already knew this. I'm guessing this one took 3 years to a lifetime to accomplish. If someone would pay me $20 an hour to make one, they'd be having to spend a thousand dollars on fabric and whatever 3 years wages are for 40-hour weeks in one year. So you may understand if you look up quilts sold at Sotheby's why some quilts have sold for millions of dollars. That's because the quilt may have a 50-year range or even 150 years range if its maker's stash includes some of her great grand-mother's leftovers, a 30's barrel she picked up at a going-out-of-business antique shop that just wanted to get rid of everything so she could retire to Florida... (there goes the speculation ringer bell) …

Little pinecone quilt doth hide
Threads equaling many miles
Fabric stacked in many piles
All to cover one so dear
With all those miles and piles of cheer​

 

[beautress]

Oh, my goodness. I binged in images for pinecone quilt, and here's just a small sampling:

 

[beautress]

Oh, my goodness. This was found under "pinecone quilts" at Bing: Would you just look. lol

 

[beautress]

This one actually mimics the color of a pinecone:

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[beautress]

Bless the bloggers! This one calls her page "Doin' the Pine Burr..." Here's the site: nifty quilts: Doin' the Pine Burr

If you've never quilted, but like the pine burrs, well, this proves that quilting is a craft as well as an art. So if this is what it takes to get you interested in making an amazing coverlet, remember that you're not really quilting, because quilting is sewing through 3 layers--backing layer, batting layer, and quilt top layer. The pineburr may or may not later be quilted, depending how much of a begger for punishment you are.

Actually, squares sewn together and bound in the back would make an okay throw spread, sans any quilting. If you wanted it quilted, it would come in handy when finished in Nome, Alaska, I'm certain.

My opinion of the pine burr quilt is pretty much summed up in 2 words:

 

[beautress]

Here's as close to a "Steps to the Whitehouse" block quilt as I've ever seen, except this one may have taken a quarter of the time that sewing one strip at a time takes going around the block in log cabin fashion. This one likely had a very bright maker who capitalized on sewing long strips together with a common light color, cut them into squares, and then proceeded to figure out a schema of on-point strip blocks aligned to look like an on-point Steps to the Whitehouse traditional block quilt. My kudos to this mathematically graced quilter.

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I'm working on a quilt similar, but not exactly the same as this one. All the lights are going to be in sundry beiges, if I can find all of the stacks of it around here. Worked on four squares for the quilt from before the sun rose till around 8:30 am. Quilting, forever; sleeping, whenever.

 

[beautress]

I'm crocheting some homely edging onto dollar store kitchen towels now...my sis was here over Christmas and zi couldn't find any towels (we moved in November) so I pick up towels every time I'm out.

I haven't done any quilting recently and I feel bad...but I'm working on my sons quilt top and have about ten blocks to go out of 42. I was going to fancy them up and got and rearrange the blocks into a more comlicated one but I decided to just stick with the first hourglass block...it will be finished faster, and be a little bigger for their big bed..then I can move on. View attachment 61762

koshergrl, I've forgotten a lot since my freedombecki days, so I can't reach you at your profile page because it seems to be locked up, but back here at the quilt thread I started way back when, I've been searching and finding new quilt ideas, but I really miss your contributions like the one above. I haven't done half square triangles in a long time, but I actually may just go through my scraps and see if I can come up with enough pieces to make an hour glass quilt after I finish the 3 I've started oh, yeah, and a baby quilt for a relative, maybe the other one will get the hour glass quilt. There have been two babies born to close relatives recently, a boy and a girl. I was right in the middle of a charity quilt when I found this out, plus I came back here as beautress since I couldn't access freedombecki due to forgetting my password after I left to take care of my husband's dementia issues which finally resulted in his passing on June 13, 2016. I just sort of didn't do much at first, then decided to try to get back to making charity quilts. I cleaned up my piecing act to get things to match up better by using pins. Long story short, I was devastated when I got back here and looked you up, finding the word "banned" under your name. I was hoping you'd be back soon, and just yesterday or the day before I noticed you back in full swing. My fingers are crossed that somehow you find this in your postings or whatever settings you have and find this again. That would make my day. Love to you and your family. And Happy Threads to you!

 

[beautress]

Postage stamp quilt idea for people who love butterflies. If you used 1" squares, the top butterfly would measure 64"x46", and the bottom one would measure 60x46" To make a quilt that fit a human being, you'd almost have to double the length, which I counted out to be around 46-47", and the outcome could be rather distorted, so some creative realigning would have to be done to make these images be good subject matter for a twin-sized bed, and do the finished inch, you'd have to be more mathematically adroit to do a full, queen, or king sized quilt. To even come close to matching the luster of a real butterfly, though, you would need a glossy satin or even a neon color schema or synthetic velvet with ultra shine to mimic God's wonderful world of living creatures in the order of Lepidoptera. *sigh*

 

[beautress]

Speaking of Lepidoptera and moths and stuff, I went exploring on bing and ran into this specie, Iotaphora admirabilis, who live in Siberia, Korea, Taiwan, etc., and fell in love with the aqua ones, though the green ones are beautiful in their own way, too:

first the green:

and the one that made my heart stand still for a couple of seconds:

ok, some pastellish ones, too:

Any of these would inspire an awesome quilt in the same color schema, imho.
If only there weren't so many charity quilts to make. Oh, wait, that can be fun when you do a new and exciting color group that nobody else found first.


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[beautress]

Job's tears. I shouldn't have gone looking this morning, I have a few started quilts unfinished at this point. Yesterday, I got a small log cabin quilt top done in all purple. I'd go looking but know there isn't anything like it anywhere. It's simple, but it's alllllllll purple. I really need to get a camera. My husband used to take pictures of all my quilts, but he's now gone, *sigh* paradise lost. He was so good to me. Every single day for 44 years. I'm so grateful to have just all good memories of him before his dementia set it. WEll, I found this on the web. It's a picture of job's tears quilt that I think was the idea of Georgia Bonesteel, at least, it seems so from the pattern format being identical to hers.

A quilt doesn't have to be totally beautiful. This one is to me, because losing someone like my husband is like having all the hurt that the Bible character named Job experienced when he was accused by the devil to God that he would be unfaithful if all he had was taken away. Job proved to God in subsequent years of pain and loss that he was true to his faith in God. He was so right about that. We should always believe in the goodness of God, no matter how great our loss, how many tears we shed over losing somebody we loved who was as good and perfect as my beloved man, who was given to me after I begged God to send me a truly good man to help me in my life.​

 

[beautress]

I just may redesign Job's tears into a format that will be fast to sew. Just as soon as I get that little purple quilt bordered! Got a busy day ahead. When I ain't cryin', I have all those silly things my husband did to make me laugh and look on the sunny side of life. My Job's tears will have to reflect at least as much joy as sorrow. Now, How am I gonna accomplish that? Tears and laughter. Heck, I ain't that smart unless you count smart-aleck in there somewhere.... Wait a minute, there is a sunshine and shadows quilt out there somewhere, so maybe I won't have to spend a year thinking up a way to do the impossible. Whew!

Looking up "sunshine and shadows" on bing…

It appears the Amish have a pattern repeated over and over called "Sunshine and Shadows." The last one on this row is a US postage stamp.

There was also another Sunshine and shadows quilt made of blocks with stripes on the diagonal and a lighter or darker in the opposite corner. I've made this quilt several times..long ago, but mine seemed to be a quilt-as-you-go block (as in 1.) repeated a few times.

In 2a, b, c, and d. there was also a log cabin version, and I've done at least 3 or 4 of these.

1.

2a.

2b

2c.

2d.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/US-3526-Am...=item546343a986:g:ZPIAAOSwWxNYzqfK:rk:30:pf:0

 

[beautress]

I think I have enough blocks to do this sunshine and shadows quilt....somewhere among my souvenirs. Ladies and Gentlemen: Sunshine and Shadows!

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[beautress]

The purple quilt top was completed, I attended today's Charity Bees workshop, sewed a bunch of old scraps of batting left over from the outsides of other quilts together to back the purple quilt top, and pin basted the whole thing. When I turned it over, much to my horror, I had pinned in so badly that if they don't fix the problem, it will be a mighty sorry quilt. I know better than to do that kind of heavy lifting, because my shoulders and back still hurt from it. From now on, I'm just going to do the tops. Well, tomorrow is another day. Sending up a prayer for all friends.

 

[beautress]

The image below shows six full squares of just purple, two of log cabin lights only and eight log cabin squares of lights and dark purples. 6 + 2 + 8 = 16 squares total.

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The all-purples quilt I completed for Charity bees (and did such a dismal job of pin-basting as described above) was all solid purples, except it was 3 across and 4 down (3x4=12)
Today, I'm going back up to the sewing room to do another purple from the 18 squares of all-purples I had when I sewed all the squares in a day, maybe Monday, I'm not sure. Anyway, it's like 100% of your concentration is in the joy of piecing together squares that are fun to look at and a challenge to put together without too many replications being so close together you'd notice. Most of my quilts have hundreds of pieces in them, but the small one I donated Tuesday had only 12x13=146+4 border pieces=total of 150 pieces on the front. Each square on my quilt had 13 log pieces, and there were 12 squares. When you account your quilting, you get an approximate of 150 on one with 12 squares and a border. Actually, mine was more, because when I held the quilt up to the sunlight, 3 of the pieces were damaged--one log had a hole in it, and 2 pieces had slits for reasons I don't know but missed when reviewing the square to make sure it was pressed ok. It wasn't until I held the small quilt up to the sunlight that I saw the flaws. One of the flaws was corrected by ripping out the center of the strip and replacing it, which made it grow in number from 1 to 3 pieces in that particular log-- one was reparable by removing half of the piece where it was slit, which resulted in 2 pieces in that strip after repair. The other was a small piece with an oddity of a hole right in the center, so I just took out the entire piece and replaced it with a strip cut 1.5x2.5" so it remained the same count of 1 piece when all was said and done. Another piece had been repaired prior to sewing by adding length, one used 2 1.5x1.5" pieces instead of the 2.5" piece that should have been used (if there is a 'should have' in a scrappy quilt--not! LOL Another looked better when I used 2 pieces I didn't use a ruler to measure, just cut it using a 3.5"x1.5" precut strip as my "ruler." Surprising that the top was so smooth, flat, and within 1/8" correct when it was measured. It is not unusual for quilters where the top and bottom are off more than an inch, and it still comes out perfectly quilted when batting and backing are added, pin-basted, then quilted and finally, bound with double bias binding that is folded and then sewn on either by machine, by hand, or both.

Another day, and hopefully, another purple quilt top. I think this one will have 24 log cabins in it, because when I made the 13-piece log cabins on maybe middle-o9f-the-night Tuesday, when I finished with 36 squares having been sewn, and only 12 of them went into the receiving-blanket-sized quilt that resulted after sewing the blocks together and adding the outside border strips on Charity bees workshop after my morning nap. A little sleep is welcome after working all night. Theoretically, the width when finished should measure 2 border strip finished widths of 4.25" plus 3 seven-inch finished square widths of 7 inches or 8.5+21=29.5" width and a length of 36.5." Top and bottom width measurements showed a .25" discrepancy, and left and right lengths were about .125" difference. I credit the good machine I use for getting so close of measurements, and my failure to pin correctly or little cutting strip discrepancies for the error margin. Even with gripper ruler equipments, after cutting a dozen quilts with hundreds of pieces causes part of my cutting mat lines to become lost as lines disappear after hundreds of cuts. Therefore, it's easy to lay the stabilized ruler down and not see lines that were so narrow no errors happened to error when those perfectly painted-on lines disappear. If there are 30 seam allowances across, that's 30 potential mistakes if one fabric or another was off by so slight as 1/16th of an inch. With 16 errors, that's an inch either way. Fortunately, often a wide error is offset by a strip cut slightly narrower. Sometimes you can actually notice one strip seems narrow, place it on a clear portion of uncut mat with perfect lines still on it, then you can estimate putting a narrow slip on top to see the wider strip below by placing the left straight edges together and sewing your 1/4" with the short cut on top that shows the precise error on the left side where the 1/4" foot overcomes the error in fabric cutting. You just learn it as you go when you are a quilter who measures all finished blocks and makes a couple of blocks at the outset to see what problems may be ahead as you work on your ther 34 quilt blocks when making a lot of squares. Most of the time I do at least 50 squares to get the 48 blocks needed for a 6x8 block alignment quilt with six vertical rows and eight horizontal ones. Hopefully, this wasn't too much gobbledygook for a good mathematician of pragmatic mind or an average quilter who has done at least 20 quilts in her or his lifetime.

It's upstairs to the quilting tower of the castle. If I don't have too many replies to answer at USMB, that is...

 

[beautress]

This is a purple mixture quilt, I don't know why I like it, I just do...

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