16 patch doll quilt

16 patch doll quilt

Originally uploaded by Q_uilted T_hrifted

I finished the top and basted the layers together and then took this picture. It stopped me dead in my tracks. That block on the left 2nd one down is way too strong. I had to set it aside for a few days and look at it again.

All I see is that one block!

I like how the back turned out.

I am so happy I am using some fabrics that have been in my stash forever and never used!!!

so I took it out…..

and replaced it with a the same blue just a milder lilac color.

I like it sooooooooooo much better.

Now to get it quilted and the binding on. I want to make a pillow mattress for this bed, fitted sheet, top sheet and pillow cases.

Spring is here and it is starting to feel like it!

Spring is here and it is starting to feel like it!

Originally uploaded by Q_uilted T_hrifted

I have joined another online Flickr group called Scrap Attack Quilt-Along and I am excited to say that yesterday I started and completed my first block. I have bins of scraps in yellow, red, blue, green, purple, orange and then a larger bin with white/creams. The green is so full I can not get the cover on it. These are smaller shoe box size bins.

This brown block I am trying very hard to have it be a double nine patch made of 4 patches that is.  I have had to adjust the lights to a medium tan so I get the contrast I will need for the light/dark values.

   I was able to fussy cut the man from the strange clown fabric I have.

I also fussy cut some kittens.

I like all the quilts I see that have word fabric in them. I have this strange piece of fabric with advertisements and clowns.

I am working on 4 patches going across this entire block. This block will also have a large nine   patch you will be able to see from a distance.

         

The fabric has a bit of a stretch to it so I backed it with a cloth foundation and stitched around it to stabilize. it.

I did this to these yellow floral fabric as well. I got this from Kathy in Australia. She sent me fabric a few years ago to add blocks to my Sunflower quilt.

I put a shout out to the Babes in my Tuesday quilt group for yellows and white/cream fabrics so I can continue with my Sunflower quilt – which is a study in Sunflower golden yellows!  I feel like I won the lottery!

Made with LOVE!

Pillows made in the late 80s

Originally uploaded by Q_uilted T_hrifted

I finished these two pillows for my son before he was born the summer of 1989.

I made little hearts and stuffed them and then attached the hearts to the white fabric.

I love the texture it gives the piece.

I have never seen anything ever done this way.

I had my purple fabrics out because I know I still had some of the original fabrics

used in my son’s quilt and in these pillows still in my stash.

I then was looking at Flickr and saw Ann’s quilt.

I have to make it.

I already have 8 blocks done….only 12 more to go.

It is so amazingly soft

It is so amazingly soft

Originally uploaded by Q_uilted T_hrifted

It’s the first day of Spring today and it is the coldest it has been in 48 years! There is so much snow. Yesterday the wind chill was biting cold but the sun was so bright. I passed a man walking into a building and he said to me “Can you believe the snow is melting at zero below wind chill.” I looked around and he was right. The brightness of the sun must have been like a magnifying glass. We both had smiles on our faces. Life is good when the sun is shining.

My sunshine lately has come in the flowers surrounding me. They are of course “inside” the house.

   The cut flowers I got from my son’s school are perfect timing!

They started out like this…

and now are so happy.

Two more lilies will open up in the next few days.

I made this quilt back in the 80s. It is some of the first fabrics I ever purchased just for quilting.

I challenged myself so get it done by the time our 1st son was born in 1989.

It was summer and very hot…

I remember being in a shopping center and I had the little one wrapped up in this blanket. A woman took my son out of the stroller and said ” you have him bundled up too warmly” and she preceded to take the blanket off of him. Then she said, ” if you let him sleep all day you will not get any sleep at night” and she continued and took his socks off. Of course he woke up and being the happiest baby ever he charmed her to no end. I was shocked but… she was right. He was way too hot and only 5 or 6 months old. I did have him bundled up like it was the middle of winter. I thought babies always needed to be bundled. Really I did… even when it was reaching 100 degrees outside.   Could I do what she did to a new mom today? Maybe, if I thought the child was uncomfortable and it was clearly in the best interest of the child. Have you ever done anything like this or had someone do something like this to you?

When I was going through the box of patterns last week I came across some of my templates for my earliest Jean quilt and a stem for my Maple Leaf quilt and this fabric.

You may not be able to see it clearly but because it has been hidden in the box it is not faded like the fabric in the quilt is.  It has been preserved. I think I will put it in an envelope and label it and put it in one of my quilt 3 ring binders.

      When I was quilting this the backing fabric shifted and I was left short of fabric on one side. I added this little strip to it and thought maybe I would embroider the date on it. Well you can see it is not there. But it should say 1989.

Would you use purple embroidery thread?

In the box of patterns from my Grandmother was also a paper bag with this book in it.

I purchased it at a quilt shop.

I picked up the companion book to this one at a thrift shop sometime in the last two years. I thought it was pretty funny.

I put the widest binding on this quilt.

I looked at it quite a while to see how I did it but I just

don’t remember and I really couldn’t tell. I pulled the seams to see if I could tell one side was by sewing machine and the other hand sewn but I really didn’t see it. I now fold my fabric so it is double thickness and sew it onto one side. I know I didn’t do that with this one.

I love the softness.

I like how the binding looks.

I love the color.

I like that it has the 4 diamonds toward the center.

I do remember purposefully not putting the extra rows on the side to finish the diamond shape.

I didn’t want it to be any larger.

I wanted it to be a little longer than wider.

It sometimes amazes me the things I remember and the things I have forgotten.

I do remember that we did not know if we were having a boy or a girl.

I thought purple would be neutral.

I had a fantasy that my baby’s room would be lilac in color with white wicker and African violets.

We lived in a one bedroom apartment at the time and his crib was in our room.

That was not going to happen.

My Love would not have allowed white wicker to take over our apartment.

He was too macho at the time!

I would not have done it either. We were at a different place in time then.

Now I have six great nieces and nephews.

My time will come!

Oh yes it will!!!

Shhhhhh. Don’t tell anyone yet.

Greatgrandma’s Double Wedding Ring Quilt

Look at this!

Originally uploaded by Q_uilted T_hrifted

The pieces to this quilt were under my Grandma Lulu’s bed in a box along with the pieces to a second quilt. I was given them and today opened the box I had put everything in to photograph the contents and realized these cardboard patterns may have been meant for this quilt.

They fit perfectly!
One of the reasons I never finished the quilt was because I didn’t know what quilt design to use in the center piece. I don’t know if Great Grandma was auditioning different patterns to choose the one she liked the best or if she planned to put different patterns in each center. There is one more I just found – see next picture.

It would make more sense than the star pattern.

Vintage Pattern with 72 X 90  written on it

My mom was 20 months old  …not even two yet. My Grandma Lulu was a school teacher in rural Minnesota at the time.

I don’t ever remember my Grandma Lulu doing lace work at all but her mother must have.

1930 magazine clipping and yarn.

All of these patterns were in the box that was under my Grandma Lulu’s bed back in 1984.  It was given to me after she died. It contained quilt blocks for two quilts. The Double Wedding Ring you see here and a Tulip quilt.

I put the DWR together back in 1987 while studying in Germany.

I studied in Ingolstadt from January until June and then stayed until the end of August.

I didn’t take care of Grandma’s box like I should have but I did put everything into a new box. My best friend used to work at this store back in the 80s. Even the box has memories for me!

The pattern on the left is the one I drafted and used to put the pieces together. If you look at the quilt closely you will see the backing fabric from the 30s has yellowed just a bit compared to the fabric I used in the 80s. The pattern pieces on the right are from my Grandma Lulu’s mother.

1930 Stick Pin

Look at that needle it screams 1930s or even older!

     My Grandmother’s cousins lived in Walla Walla.

It is a part of my family history just looking at this old envelope that was used for the pattern.

My Grandfather was a Postmaster General and I was given part of his stamp collection. I am going to go through the stamps and see which one this was.    It will give me more information about the age of the pattern.

There is an entire box full of patterns that I will share in the next post.

If I put a different pattern in the centers I will need to have 12 of them. So far I have 4 of them that work from the box.

There are also some good ideas in the Gallery I put together on Double Wedding Ring Quilts

Grandma Martha’s Quilt

Full View of Grandma Martha’s Quilt

Originally uploaded by Q_uilted T_hrifted

Here is almost a full view of Grandma Martha’s quilt.

Here is a view of one of the “less worn” blocks in the quilt. I had written better but I then decided that was not the right word.

There are those of us in the quilt world that have hearts that lean toward the wear and tear.  I am certainly one of those.

Backing solid fabric. Most likely a sheet.

I was so happy to see M Smidt on this quilt. It tells me I got it from Martha Smidt’s daughter Katherine.

Kay has lived with my family since the very early 70s. She is our Guardian Angel.

I was wondering where this quilt came from and then I realized two tags are sewn on both sides of the quilt. I am not certain if they were put on by the maker or put on due to going to a nursing home and all personal items needed to be labeled. The label is machine stitched on.

Rosa asked me to add this block to the Vintage Quilt group on Flickr.

There are today 646 members whom have loaded 2,133 photos of vintage quilts.

There are some really sweet fabrics in this quilt.

Vintage mushrooms

cabin with smoke coming from chimney

little bunny rabbits

Vintage Quilt Square  – sort of a Pinwheel

Here is the fabric the maker placed with the rabbits. It is so perfect in my opinion.

What I love about Flickr and being a quilter is the correspondence between two people. I am in North America and Robyn is in Australia.

Robyne:

“it’s such a great pattern hey? really dynamic but simple. You have some amazing old quilts. luck america.”

Me:  (56 months ago)

“Thank you for the nice comments. I feel very lucky and really enjoy taking these photos and sharing them. I love the fabrics, the detail, the gentleness, the love that went into these quilts, the fabric choices people made….the beauty of this blue stripe with the rabbit print…it is great!!! I get absorbed when I look at quilts and when I do random sewing and my arm reaches out and grabs two fabrics and puts them together…that is where the pleasure is for me. I like working with scraps and leftovers from projects of others…their throw aways! I salvage…that’s me!”

Now Robyne introduced me to Waggas. I had never heard the term before. I started a Wagga Gallery in Flickr of some of them I have come across over the years.

Read what Robyne has to say about Waggas here.

http://robynefmelia.blogspot.com/search?q=what+is+a+wagga

and check out the rest of her blog. Especially the Crazy Quilt she sold.

this quilt does not have any batting to it….summer weight…..

Piece Play (also from Australia):

“Love this too. The colours are so soft modern and graphic, unusual pattern but simple too.”

Me: “Thank you Piece Play for the comment. I am not used to quilts without batting. I guess they call these summer weight….which makes sense with how hot it has been lately. It is nice to sleep under a quilt even in the heat of high summer.”

Gingham fabric….the fabric I remember from my childhood.

I like the print on the binding as well.

See also…

The rocking chair quilt

Antique star quilt -Lime green

Full length of antique star quilt -Lime green

Originally uploaded by Q_uilted T_hrifted

Photo taken July 17 2008
I have had this one for a while. It is thread bare. I do think it is of all the quilts I own the one that is in the worst shape.
Some would call it a “cutter quilt”.

I think someone was trying to take the red border fabric off toward the top in order to do some repairs….but gave up. It is completely gone on the top right corner. This could be a cutter quilt but I would NEVER have the heart to cut it apart. Maybe if one star was framed with a nice quote underneath it. I might consider it but it would still be difficult.

I am not certain if this is called a Lone Star or if  they need to have more layers of diamonds.

All I can think of is that this quilt was washed in bleach….and the bleach had a chemical reaction to the white dots on this red fabric and ate them away. It also explains why the star is faded in certain areas. The bleach probably did not get dispersed evenly in the tub of the machine. What do you think?

“I think that the red fabric might be quite old, and dyed red with an unstable dye. Often times the older dyes will eventually eat the cotton threads” Mama&Jack

Look at all the quilting! A lot of time and love was put into this quilt

You can see where bleach may have reached the left lower corner of this during a washing…otherwise it was sunbleached but I don’t think so.

I love this quilt and all its tatteredness!

A little closer shot of the quilting

Fading on the stars

The pink fabric had polka dots and all the white dots have disintegrated. I find this really strange.

 

 

 

Sunbonnet Sue and Sam

Sunbonnet Sue and Sam

Originally uploaded by Q_uilted T_hrifted

I purchased this quilt at an antique store years ago because i knew it was unlikely I would do too many applique projects.

I like the lace at the bottom of the dress and also the embroidered flowers.

The fishing Sam blocks alternate with the Sue.

Each block is different

On this one the dress is made of a plaid fabric.

This one is gingham.

Different types of lace were used on the dresses.  I took this photo outdoors so it is a bit clearer.

These photos were taken years ago. When I bring this quilt out this Spring I will take some new photos.

This little guy today has 540 views on Flickr.

and Sue has 18.

It is harder to find Sam on quilts. I made a Gallery of some of the quilts I have found on Flickr.

I do a search periodically of Farmer Sam, Overall Sam and Country Sam

Here is an Orange Sue/Sam quilt I purchased in 2011. It is super fluffy. Orange is so rare. I had to buy it!

Here is a Sam quilt I purchased up in Northern MN and blogged about here.

It is fun having 3 different Sam quilts. They are so different from one another.

I have a fourth quilt that I purchased that has just Sue…no Sam.

Spring Thrifting

It was a thrifting day today. The table is filled with finds from last week and today.

I think the picture is scrunched because I loaded it in full size. Click to see large view.

I found a 2nd black Pyrex piece today.

Barbed Wire and Yellow Split Casserole Dishes

It is called Barbed Wire and goes great with the Compass piece I found last week.

I now have two black Pyrex pieces!

The yellow dish above I saw at a Flower shop. I was not going to buy but then I saw a red slash through it and it was 50 percent off. I paid only$3.25.

They both are split casserole dishes.

Neither of them had lids. I do though have some from other pieces I can use.

The blue butterfly tablecloth I already had. I pulled it out to cover the card table but as you can see it is not large enough! I love the soft pastel colors though. I am so ready for soft colors of Spring.

It even came with a darning needle.

The spools of thread I got last week and the darning threads I picked up today.

((((((((((((Painted Easter Eggs Are So Fabulous!))))))))))))))))

I really like these decorated Easter eggs.

They all came in one big bag. I usually pick one up here and there.

The price was less than two dollars for the entire lot.

I have had an Easter tree since I lived in Germany and my family there had one.  See those cute little carrots! I am not certain what I am going to do with them. I’ll have to get creative.

   The stationary products will be Easter presents that will be going out in the mail

I have also been purchasing the Harry Potter books when I can find them at a decent price. I saw them at Unique 2-3 weeks ago and they wanted $4.99. I thought that was ridiculous for a thrift store. I found book 5 today for $1.99. Much better.

    

Now I only need 3 more. Books 2,6,and 7 then I will have the entire set.

  The cup is going in my son’s Easter basket. The Sock Money and Elephant  kit will be in mine. Have you ever seen a sock elephant before?

I found some great fabric and linen pieces that will be stored in my vintage suitcase collection. The third case is empty…but not for long.

I need to figure out how to take the musty smell out of the case. I think I will fill it will dryer sheets… although we haven’t been using them in a while.

   I could not pass up another bonnet pot holder. Not for 29 cents. Both of these sunflower linens I was thinking of adding to my Sunflower quilt. The top white stitched piece has a small hole in it just above the right flower.

I saw a wool grey sweater yesterday at the thrift for $4.99 that would have made some fantastic wool crafts. I am hoping it will still be there when that color price tag is on sale. Each week is a new color.

The felted bird will get packed away until next Christmas.
It is really really really cute!!!

          So I am ready to start decorating for Easter. I found a few gift cards. This one here is for Grandpa H.

My Easter tree is going to look so pretty. I saw the cutest paper mache miniature baskets today. I can’t buy everything though. I spent less than $15.00 today. If you note on the top photo I got a pair of Nike summer sandals for my son. All last summer I wished he had had some. He had grown out of his from the season before.

I love thrifting.

The doll bed finally has a quilt that fits

The doll bed finally has a quilt that fits

Originally uploaded by Q_uilted T_hrifted

I am very pleased with how this has turned out. I would still like to add buttons but I can not get to them at this time. I may add more hand quilting as well but I can not decide what to add.

Hand quilted on the diagonal. Jan liked to put a stripe binding on her quilts. This is in her honor. I now would like to make a pillow and a pillowcase to go with this bed. It feels good to have something finished.  Well, almost finished if I add buttons and I must add a label.
Project: 4 Patch Doll Quilt
Started: Nov 22, 2008
Finished: March 6, 2013
Method: Machine pieced. Hand quilted
Size: 18 3/4 X 13 1/4
Fabrics: 24 various shades of red
141 different creams and whites if I include the backing 142
a number of the fabrics have leaves as a theme
if I had fussy cut some of the fabrics there would have been more – oh well.

I have always liked fabrics with leaves on them. Autumn is my favorite time of the year.

I would buy any fabric I could find with acorns on them.

I put the hanging corners on the back as I sewed the binding on. I really like the bird fabric I decided on for the backing.

Here is what the bed looks like and a picture of the doll quilt just as I was starting to hand quilt it earlier this week. I have a piece of styrofoam on the bed for a mattress at this time put I want to make a mattress out of an old pillow. I purchased the doll bed at a thrift store maybe two years ago.

Here is how the quilt looks hanging on the wall as a backdrop behind my Pyrex dishes.

Some day I will have my wall of doll quilts. See this Doll Quilts Wall Gallery for inspiration and motivation!

There are three posts on this 4-patch doll quilt. If you click on the Catagory below you can see all 3 of them.