Artful Homemade Quilts Have A Way

[freedombecki]

I

Got the chickens done:

Oh, Koshergrl, isn't that just too darn cute! My sister has chickens in her kitchen. I oughta do something like that using my sewing machine, which has a stem stitch and a triple straight stitch, both of which look great with size thirty cotton DMC machine embroidery thread (and several others in recent years). I'm glad you followed up a start with a picture. Your mother will be thrilled if they're for her. In one of my books on victorian applique, I designed a Rhode Island Red rooster, which would look good in sewing machine blackwork. I may drag out my stuff and do that sometime soon!

I love your inspiring work and so glad you shared it.

They're just the commercial transfers, but they are so much fun; simple enough and inexpensive enough that I can finish them quickly and move on to the next; and people do love them. I love them...I always need more because I end up giving them all away. I made another, very simple one that was just a pot of basil, for my sister but didn't get a picture. I used much larger stitches as I was busier that day and wanted to make sure it was completely done before the end. It was a large transfer though; her towels are very sheer gauze flour sacks 28 x 29, I think; not the heavy ones like I found for mom. They were the only ones I could find though so we went with them, and she likes them; she's a cook too and likes any form of flour sack..the secret is quantity. The embroidery adds some substance to them.

My mother had all kinds of embroideries she'd do, throughout the house and kitchen. When my children were small, I made half a dozen heavy gauze embroidered towels with handwork and fancy machine stitched around them with double needles and 28 cams on an old Kenmore sewing machine. I loved drying dishes with those. So when I saw yours, I instantly loved them. Except for the borders, they were spaced well and the designs you picked were truly pretty. Mine were teapots and flowers, for some reason, made in every color. They lasted for years and were the best. Yours will, too. I still have a couple I save for when company comes.

 

[freedombecki]

Today went ok, but 4 of the squares still need to be finished on Green Wide fields Log Cabin Quilt for a shelter child or wheelchair senior or soldier, depending on the community need here in Walker County. As I left for a quick supper, 20 of the 24 eight-inch squares had been completed.

Scan 1 - Gross General Schema, 4 x 6 blocks = 24 blocks

Scan 2 - Dark Square, one of eight

Scan 2 - Half-and-half Square, one of sixteen

 

[koshergrl]

I

Oh, Koshergrl, isn't that just too darn cute! My sister has chickens in her kitchen. I oughta do something like that using my sewing machine, which has a stem stitch and a triple straight stitch, both of which look great with size thirty cotton DMC machine embroidery thread (and several others in recent years). I'm glad you followed up a start with a picture. Your mother will be thrilled if they're for her. In one of my books on victorian applique, I designed a Rhode Island Red rooster, which would look good in sewing machine blackwork. I may drag out my stuff and do that sometime soon!

I love your inspiring work and so glad you shared it.

They're just the commercial transfers, but they are so much fun; simple enough and inexpensive enough that I can finish them quickly and move on to the next; and people do love them. I love them...I always need more because I end up giving them all away. I made another, very simple one that was just a pot of basil, for my sister but didn't get a picture. I used much larger stitches as I was busier that day and wanted to make sure it was completely done before the end. It was a large transfer though; her towels are very sheer gauze flour sacks 28 x 29, I think; not the heavy ones like I found for mom. They were the only ones I could find though so we went with them, and she likes them; she's a cook too and likes any form of flour sack..the secret is quantity. The embroidery adds some substance to them.

My mother had all kinds of embroideries she'd do, throughout the house and kitchen. When my children were small, I made half a dozen heavy gauze embroidered towels with handwork and fancy machine stitched around them with double needles and 28 cams on an old Kenmore sewing machine. I loved drying dishes with those. So when I saw yours, I instantly loved them. Except for the borders, they were spaced well and the designs you picked were truly pretty. Mine were teapots and flowers, for some reason, made in every color. They lasted for years and were the best. Yours will, too. I still have a couple I save for when company comes.

Yes the way to do it is the way you do your quilts; you just always work on them. You always have either towels, pillow cases, or something that you're working on.

I need to get my crochet thread out and start making edging for everything.

 

[koshergrl]

I went to the Walla Walla Fort museum; they had an awesome quilt exhibit; I'll post pics as soon as they download.

 

[koshergrl]

My grandma used to make those ^^^, a couple each year; usually made of wool (and later polyester) scraps. They were beautiful. She used heavy flannel for the backing, and cotton, unbleached batting in between. She'd work on them all year, then when they were ready to assemble she'd call her relatives & inlaws and 3-4 ladies would converge on the house. They'd put the quilt in a big frame, and everyone would tie it.

 

[koshergrl]

^^quilted silk smoking jacket.

^^silk.

 

[freedombecki]

Koshergrl, those quilts you photographed are awesome. Back when I was in the quilt services business, a lady brought me a quilt top made by her grandmother of the polyester type, which was in tatters, except the squares were intact. Her deceased grandmother had used cotton thread, and the squares were just barely hanging onto each other. I told her the repair would not look pretty because the only way I could salvage it economically was to put it back together with polyester thread and zigzag over the top, and how I would hate to do it. She insisted, so I did it, worrying what the outcome would be when she saw it. She loved it, because I didn't make any drastic changes, and it looked like new. I'm pretty certain that if she washed it every day for 20 years, it would still be in a totally repaired state, because I used the best polyester thread.

It's just that I think there's nothing like handwork, after all these years of making machine-made quilts that are measured, cut right, and assembled as well as I can. Cotton does not outlast polyester, except in cases of high heat. That can cause polyester fibers to undergo a chemical change in which they meld and turn hard to the touch.

Also, polyester, upon ignition releases toxic gas, and probably enough to cause someone to die of toxic fumes inhalation. I had quite a discussion with the Police Chief in my town about toxic fumes. His opinion was that home construction is such that toxic fumes would be unavoidable. He said that to avoid fatal home incidents in a house fire would be to insure that all the fire alarms have new batteries placed in them the first of the year, every year.

He said that would save more lives than any other thing in the world.

So if anyone has snored their way to this paragraph, do yourself and your family a life-saving favor and put new batteries in your house fire alarms; and if you don't have them, go get them today and install them near the stove, fireplace, heater, and water heater. Keep in mind that 2% of American familiess have a house fire. That may not mean much unless you realize that there is no determining factor as to who will and who will not have a house fire, except for those who smoke in bed regularly. (today a very small percent). All other house fires are completely random in all population groups in times of peace.

 

[freedombecki]

Adding the border was done earlier this morning. The body of the quilt was completed before bedtime into the wee hours.

You just sleep better if things are at a completable stage, that's all, imho.

This is completion #3 for 2013 Charity Bees closet, and the designation of "any" - Well, sometimes they need a wheelchair quilt here and there for someone who has lost their mobility. Maybe it will perk someone up to take up their mat and rejoin the human race in better health that mobility gives them. Sometimes therapy and a thumbs up is all it takes. There is no substitute for a good nurse or caregiver in helping someone restore their get-up-and-go.

 

[Sunshine]

Got the chickens done:

Those are just super cute~! I love flower sack dish cloths. They are my favorite over everything else out there!

 

[Sunshine]

My grandma used to make those ^^^, a couple each year; usually made of wool (and later polyester) scraps. They were beautiful. She used heavy flannel for the backing, and cotton, unbleached batting in between. She'd work on them all year, then when they were ready to assemble she'd call her relatives & inlaws and 3-4 ladies would converge on the house. They'd put the quilt in a big frame, and everyone would tie it.

Those are fabulous! While my mother taught me how to do a lot of things like quilting, embroidery, and Swedish weaving, I just didn't get into it like most of the women in my family did at the time. LOL. One day I will try to find the crocheted bath mat and toilet bowl cover that my aunt made for my wedding shower. My husband always said it made you ashamed to shit! LOL. That set is truly gorgeous! I don't crochet though. I knit.

Now, with such stress of many kinds, I find that the cross stitch allowed me to detach from everything. It is repetitive and much like the Zen mantra takes me to a place of peace. I have come to realize that the stresses women of my mother's, grandmothers', and great grandmothers' day must have been incredible. My grandmother died at 96 and she didn't stop quilting until she got so sick at the end of her life she just couldn't do it. Needlework is about the things. It is a way to have beautiful things that you don't have to pay a lot for. But it is about so much more than just that! I didn't really teach any of that stuff to my daughter because I had to work after my husband died, and always regretted it. But when my daughter went away to college she shared a dorm room with a girl from Harrodsburg KY who taught her how to crocket and cross stitch.

 

[freedombecki]

Last year, there was this quilt entitled "Giacometti's rectangles" or some such, and to make 1 square, it took just a few minutes to make 5 more. So with 60 to 72 different rectangles, there was a surplus of at least 300 squares, all stacked in a tall, thin 5x12" clear plastic file found at Wally World or some such, and so handy with a portable handle, too. Anyway, it will take less than 40 to alternate with a great fabric found in scan 2 below.

Scan 1 Schema

Scan 2 Giacometti (enlongate) block and same-sized "Golden Apples fabric to alternate

Scan 3 Sample of rows 1 and 2 (already assembled) Now, just 4 rows of 11 enlongate blocks to go! Simple Simon quilting is fun.

 

[freedombecki]

Scan 1, 2, & 3 - Row 1

 

[freedombecki]

Scans 1, 2, and 3: Row 2

 

[Sunshine]

]

My grandma used to make those ^^^, a couple each year; usually made of wool (and later polyester) scraps. They were beautiful. She used heavy flannel for the backing, and cotton, unbleached batting in between. She'd work on them all year, then when they were ready to assemble she'd call her relatives & inlaws and 3-4 ladies would converge on the house. They'd put the quilt in a big frame, and everyone would tie it.

I know I've already answered this post once, but that top quilt is an absolute masterpiece of workmanship.

 

[freedombecki]

The top to Giacometti's Golden Apples Quilt is all done!

Nothing like having squares presewn! And set squares all cut out! Nothing!!!

Scan 1: Upper Left Corner with Border

Scan 2: Lower Border

Scan 3: Central Area

 

[freedombecki]

]

My grandma used to make those ^^^, a couple each year; usually made of wool (and later polyester) scraps. They were beautiful. She used heavy flannel for the backing, and cotton, unbleached batting in between. She'd work on them all year, then when they were ready to assemble she'd call her relatives & inlaws and 3-4 ladies would converge on the house. They'd put the quilt in a big frame, and everyone would tie it.

I know I've already answered this post once, but that top quilt is an absolute masterpiece of workmanship.

I agree, Sunshine. The Trapunto leaves, stems, and figures are totally outstanding when you realize that in that era, the women separated fibers carefully to stuff the tiniest bits of cotton batting into the highlighted areas through the pores, and when done, carefully moved the warp and weft threads back into their original woven positions. The women of Washington State have truly some of the best quilters who learned hand-me-down from mothers and their friends the most advanced techniques in the western world from pioneer times on. A publishing business named That Patchwork Place in Belleview, Washington, has one such descendant as its owner and author of many books on quilts, their care, and how to use them in decorations. Her name is Nancy Martin, and if you ever had just one of her quilts-for-the-home books, you'd know how rich her knowledge.

Not to take anything away from the American Quilter's Society! Paducah, KY is home to that wonderful group that publishes The American Quilter and a plethora of the most advanced techniques, improved by contemporary quilt technicians and artists.

 

[koshergrl]

I love freedombecki!!!!

Now I'm going to read up on trapunto.

 

[Sunshine]

]

My grandma used to make those ^^^, a couple each year; usually made of wool (and later polyester) scraps. They were beautiful. She used heavy flannel for the backing, and cotton, unbleached batting in between. She'd work on them all year, then when they were ready to assemble she'd call her relatives & inlaws and 3-4 ladies would converge on the house. They'd put the quilt in a big frame, and everyone would tie it.

I know I've already answered this post once, but that top quilt is an absolute masterpiece of workmanship.

I agree, Sunshine. The Trapunto leaves, stems, and figures are totally outstanding when you realize that in that era, the women separated fibers carefully to stuff the tiniest bits of cotton batting into the highlighted areas through the pores, and when done, carefully moved the warp and weft threads back into their original woven positions. The women of Washington State have truly some of the best quilters who learned hand-me-down from mothers and their friends the most advanced techniques in the western world from pioneer times on. A publishing business named That Patchwork Place in Belleview, Washington, has one such descendant as its owner and author of many books on quilts, their care, and how to use them in decorations. Her name is Nancy Martin, and if you ever had just one of her quilts-for-the-home books, you'd know how rich her knowledge.

Not to take anything away from the American Quilter's Society! Paducah, KY is home to that wonderful group that publishes The American Quilter and a plethora of the most advanced techniques, improved by contemporary quilt technicians and artists.

My grandmother made quilts that had designes 'stuffed.' She had her own little patterns she had cut out by hand that she traced with a pencil on the quilt. I don't think she every did anything as complex as the one pictured though. On this one, there are designed within designs which you can hardly see in the photo. Each cluster of grapes is framed, and the border seems to have a minimal amount of stuff in it as well, but I'm not sure. I would not finish a quilt like that if I lived to be 100!

 

[Sunshine]

I love freedombecki!!!!

Now I'm going to read up on trapunto.

Quilting - Trapunto

I can't even fathom it.!

I think this is how my grandmother did it:

http://www.allpeoplequilt.com/techniques/specialty/trapunto-quilting_1.html

 

[freedombecki]

Scan 4 Lower Left Medallion Flower

Scan 5 Lower Right Butterfly (turned to show whole design)

Scan 6 Top Right Border (the bottom border is the exact inverse of the top)

The approximate size of the Second Round measures 21 by 34" at the outside, give or take an inch. The two side borders are just 1.5" strips attached after the stripped borders were added, top and bottom.

Orange is a very warming color to work with, and it has been time happily spent.