My goal for Colonial Times 1 was to make a simple patchwork and applique quilt. I wanted to heavily quilt it. And I wanted the quilting to be the real showcase for this quilt. From the comments I get when showing this quilt, the goal was successful. I pieced and quilted this lovely quilt in 2015-16. The piecing was done by machine. And the small section of hexagons was English paper pieced and hand appliqued. I love how blue and…
Grandma’s Flower Garden – Many quilters like to do patterns that are vintage or traditional. Some like to use vintage or reproduction fabrics. That is what makes this small quilt fun – it is all 1930’s fabrics. All the fabric in this quilt is from feed sacks or 1930’s fabric my grandma gave me. My grandpa worked at the feed mill and he would watch for several bags that matched. He would buy the feed in those matching bags and…
I love to English paper piece hexagons but not so much diamonds. This Tumbling Blocks (English paper pieced) was pieced using this method in 1990-91. It was an experiment, and I chose three colors to make the diamonds and a floral fabric that coordinated for the background. I found that the diamonds were harder to baste together than I thought they would be – maybe because of the sharp points of the diamonds. Plus, the more I worked on it,…
I have no idea who showed me how to English paper piece hexagons and diamonds. But the years have slid by and I really enjoy this technique. It is portable, easy, and looks great when completed. What research I have done on this technique is that it started in England (well that certainly is obvious) in the 1700’s. The technique showed up in America in the early 1800’s. I have not done enough research that may or may not show…
Background of Flowers & Tumblers quilt: FLOWERS & TUMBLERS (or scraps are taking over my world) part 3 – I have been trying to use only scraps to make quilts this year. I am making a dent in the scrap bins – finally. For FLOWERS & TUMBLERS (or scraps are taking over my world) part 3 I was inspired by a row quilt that I hand quilted for a customer this past summer. I thought that some sort of row…
This fun and pretty quilt, Flowers & Tumblers Part 2, started in July 2019 with the English paper pieced flowers. Here is the continuing saga of this quilt. My goal for this year is to make a dent in the scraps bins which have overflowed. And figure out fun and different ways to use up leftover pieces from other quilts that I have made. Part 1. After completing the two sections of English pieced flowers, I did the tumbler sections….
