It's Bloggers Quilt Festival time again thanks to Amy's Creative Side!
I'm entering my quilt into the Applique Quilts category.
http://amyscreativeside.com/2014/10/24/bloggers-quilt-festival-fall-2014-edition/
Several years ago; I took a class to learn a new applique technique called "Back Basting". We started with Baltimore Album blocks. I took me over one year to do nine blocks. When it came time to put the borders on
I realized that I didn't buy enough white on white fabric and by that time the fabric was out of print. And so the quilt top sat in my closet for a long time.
Until the beginning of 2014 I decided to complete some of my WIP. I decided to take part of the Baltimore blocks apart and make individual Wall Hangings out of three of them. I have other plans for the rest of the blocks.
The "Rose Wreath with Red Birds" is one of my
favorites. A truly Traditional Block dated 1854, it can be found in "Baltimore Beauties and Beyond" Volume One by Elly Sienkiewicz.
I used needle turned applique along with the back basting method for all of the pieces. I find that using YLI silk threads are best for
needle turn applique - it seems to make your stitches almost invisible.
(If you're interested in learning the back basting method there is a very good easy to follow tutorial By Sentimental Stitches)
After taking this block apart from the others; I thought that it could use ...something. so I decided to hand embroidered around the turquoise flowers and center hearts using a simple blanket stitch. I think it gives it a little more texture and interest.
To keep with tradition this quilt is hand quilted with straight line quilting on the diagonal. Also, some echo quilting around the leaves and flowers.
The binding is done the Sharon Schamber way. You can find her video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2hWQ5-ZccE HERE
After the binding was done I needed to add a sleeve. There are many tutorials on the internet but my favorite
is Susan Brubaker Knapp's
http://wwwbluemoonriver.blogspot.com/2007/07/how-to-make-quilt-sleeve.html
I am very happy with the way this wallhanging came out - it measures 20' x 20' and would certainly brighten up any space.
Many Many beautiful quilts in this
festival - Hope that you'll go and
take a look!
An Eco Dyeing experiment with
Cleome Flowers.
If you're interested you can read
about it HERE -
On my new dye blog.
Can This Quilt Be Saved?
I bought this vintage quilt top
last year on the internet. I had
stored it away until I had the time
to work on it.
I'm a member of a Quilt History Study
Group here in Lancaster; so when I
saw this piece for sale I was so excited!
I recognized some of the fabrics from
about 1890 - 1900. But I wanted to bring
it to the Study to make sure.
Now when I say a "piece" for sale I mean
that the seller called it a "cutter quilt".
I clicked on "buy" and bought the piece.
Later I went back to view the piece again
and I noticed that there were SIX OTHER
PIECES for sale! So I e-mailed the seller
and asked if they were cutting as they
sold or if the rest of the quilt was
still whole.
To my relief; they said it was still whole
and asked if they should cut another
piece for me....NO!! I will buy the
remainder of the quilt "UNCUT"!
When I received it in the mail I was
so excited! Granted it does have some
torn spots but it's Queen size!
Just look at these old fabrics!
This is just one piece of the corner
of the quilt that was cut. The quilt
was not quilted but tied.
You can see where some of the pieces
are torn.
Here's the back....
All hand stitched with small stitches
and straight lines. That's a lot of
work for all these pieces and queen
size!
That's one of the reasons that I would
like to salvage what I can.
I noticed that one of the blocks were
repaired.
Front view of repair
Back view of repair
What I did so far to this piece is
I removed the back and the batting.
The quilt did have a funny odor sort
of like a chemical smell. I had to
put it outside in the shade to air
it out for a couple of days. Taking
it inside at night.
Here I just removed one block that
was in shreds. I will continue to
remove all of the damaged blocks on
this piece before I work on the rest
of the quilt.
It will take me a long time but I
believe it will be worth it.
I will post the other part of the
quilt very soon.
Happy Quilting!
I have a blog called Materialistic
Visions that I started and neglected.
It's about my dyed fabrics and now
I'm going to use it also for my
echo dye experiments.
Here's what on the blog today---
Experimenting with Pyracantha ‘Orange Glow’
berries.
If you're interested here's the link
Berry experiment
Have a great week!
October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month
In October 2012 Melanie Testa, a breast
cancer survivor, had a "Call For Art"
breast pockets. She wanted at least 1,000
pockets with the hope of having the story
published in a New York newspaper. But then
on October 25, 2012, Hurricane Sandy hit
the Atlantic coast. It was a category 3 and
caused so much destruction! And so
newspapers were filled with photos of the
devastation, people walking around with
no homes and just the clothes on their
backs.
In the October/November 2014 issue of
Quilting Arts magazine is an article about
Melanie Testa and her call for
Breast Pockets.
Some of the artistic pockets that Melanie
received in 2012 are published here -
and I am very happy and humbled that one of
my pockets was chosen for this publication!
Upper right hand corner is mine.
I wrote about it Breast Pocket Here.
Art For A Cause
Quilting Arts magazine is having a
reader's challenge.
"In the spirit of health for our sisters,
hope for a cure, and honor for those who
have traveled this path, Quilting Arts
readers are asked to create their own
breast pockets."
Please pick up a copy of Quilting Arts
magazine for the details. Honor someone
you know/knew who had breast cancer. I had
made them in honor of my sister-in-law Joy
and my two cousins, Ruth and Rosemary who
died from breast cancer.
I'm making them this time for to honor
two friends who are survivors! (Thank God!)
Please remember to get your Mammography this month!
I know it's uncomfortable and can be scary - I had
gotten a call back because they had seen something that
they wanted to check. Went back with my heart
pounding but thank God all was well.
Please consider making a pocket or two - it doesn't
take that long and it's fun but most of all it's for a
good cause!
Happy Quilting!
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