Vintage Inspired

It's a top!

64 x 80

Looks like I started this top in 2022.

When I got it out of the project box this month I only had three rows made. This month I made 17 more rows. 

I used 4.5 inch squares of old shirts and floral 2.5 inch squares for the corners. 

I was inspired by this vintage quilt. I don't remember source of the photo. 

And now I have emptied that project box and added one to the TBQ (to be quilted) pile. 

And sew on...

Oh Scrap! At Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

There is something strange going on at the neighbor's house across the road. Looks like the skeletons are heading this way. Yikes!

A Flock Of Flying Geese Landed At My House

Sawtooth Stars

8 inch

I received some baggies of what I thought at first were HST parts. Then I figured out they were wingless Flying Geese (2.5 x 4.5 inch unfinished). They are lots of them in several different colors. To start with I pulled out the baggie of orange parts and decided to give them wings so they could fly. 

For the Sawtooth Stars I dug into the 4.5 inch squares for Star centers. I looked in the 2.5 inch scraps for Flying Geese wings in a contrasting color and cut those with my Easy Angle ruler. I didn't have any orange 2.5 inch squares to use for the block corners so I cut a 2.5 inch strip from a couple of different orange scrap chunks to use. 

Geese Strips

If sewn together they would make a column 80.5 inches (unfinished) long. 

One of the little baggies of Flying Geese bodies held some pieces pinned together in groups. I cut some low volume wings and made strips with any pinned groups that had orange in them.  Then I made a few more groups with just orange Geese bodies.  I wanted strips of 40 total Flying Geese that if sewn together would equal a column of 80 inches (finished). 

I will be using the Flying Geese columns in a Wild Goose Chase quilt that I'm thinking will end up around 60 x 80 finished. 

I was inspired by the May Quilt of the Month at the International Quilt Museum:

Wild Goose Chase 

Mary Maxtion 

Made in Boligee, Alabama, United States; circa 1980-1995

Cotton blend

IQM 2000.004.0079

Going where the scraps take me...making comfort quilts one scrap at a time.

And sew on...

Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

***

My siblings will all be in town today for a couple of days. My brother and wife left Tennessee a week ago in their camper and have been camping at many different places along a planned route. In their plan they included camping at a place near here. The last few days they have been camping and visiting attractions near Galena, IL. My sister flew in from CA and my brother flew in from FL to join them. My sister that lives near me also went to meet them and they have been staying the last few days at the unique Car Wash Inn which is a short drive from Galena.  Unfortunately my husband is unable to travel far so we could not join them.  However, today they will be camping a few miles from here in RV and cabin and we will be able to join them for a few hours each day.  It has been a long time since all of us have been together so I'm looking forward to the visit. 

 

Vintage Doll Quilt Inspired Top

It's a top!

66 x 84

It was inspired by a c. 1895 doll quilt I saw at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts. 

I made 6 inch finished four patches of QSTs and squares as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge project. I think I started making the blocks from scraps back in 2022.  I had the 3.5 inch HSTs in the outer border in my Parts Department. 

I just love how it turned out. 

I might have to big stitch hand quilt this one someday and keep it for myself. 

I do like to make my version of a vintage quilt!

Hopefully the next tops I'll blog about will be quilted ones because this month the theme in my sewing space is March Madness (Quilting) Marathon! 

And sew on...

Finished Or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

 

Starry Path

Starry Path

Over the last couple of months I've made a pile of blocks I sewed as leader/enders. To be close to an ailing husband I moved my sewing machine upstairs to the dining room table to be near him should he need attention. He is too sick and weak to do too much on his own right now. My ironing board and cutting mat are still downstairs in my little sewing space so I don't get down often enough to be able to iron and take photos of all my leader/enders. 

These blocks are called Starry Path. I have been making them with '30s repro fabrics and old shirts.  I was inspired by a vintage quilt and did not know the name of the block. I figured out how to make the blocks and asked visitors to my blog back in October to name the block.  

I'm aiming for 35 blocks and now have 10. 

And sew on...

 

It's A Hand Quilted Finish! Smitten

Smitten

63 x 81

It's a finish!

And it's hand quilted!

And this one is for me!

Back in February of this year I was pondering what to do with a Castle Wall ufo. I had three super-sized  blocks made for a quilt I was calling Valentines at the Castle Wall. The oldest block, above, was made in 2014. I really wasn't sure I liked how all three blocks looked together and I really didn't want to make any more blocks but I really wanted to use those blocks so in February I turned the one ufo, Valentines at the Castle Wall, into three different quilt tops I named "Throwing Snowballs at the Castle Wall", "Hugs and Kisses at the Castle Wall" and "Smitten". 

Smitten was inspired by a c. 1890-1900 quilt. You can read more about that and the making of Smitten on my February blog post. 

I big stitch hand quilted it very simply with red perle cotton #12.   I stitched in the ditch around the Castle Wall block and around the heart in the middle. 

In most of the six inch patches I stitched around any whole hearts that were showing. 

In the three inch and one inch patches I stitched about 1/4 inch along the seam lines. I didn't mark anything...just eyeballed it. 

The binding was aqua solid to match some of the aqua patches on front as well as the roses on aqua backing. 

This quilt is full of a few of my favorite things - scraps, hearts and roses. 

And sew on...

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts

Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

 

Name That Block

Do you know the name of this block? 

I spied a vintage quilt with the unusual block. I do love vintage quilts and I'm a bit unusual so I just had to see if I could figure out how to make the blocks for a quilt of my own.  I'm going to use plaids, dots, stripes, old shirts and '30s repros.  My sample blocks above finish at 12 inches. 

I first saw the vintage quilt above at Pinterest in a search for "vintage quilt". That lead me to the website Heirloomed Collection where I could see more pictures of the quilt. I think the blocks in the vintage quilt are larger than the ones I made and I think I switched the positioning of the darks and lights in my blocks but it's all good and now I have a new start without a name. 

And sew on...

 

What's In The Hoop?

During the summer I usually put hand quilting on hold because without a/c it is too darned hot to have a quilt on my lap while hand quilting.  It has cooled off a bit although yesterday made it to a record high I think.  Well, anyway, a couple of weeks ago I finally pin basted a quilt and got it into the hoop so I have something to do while sitting with a very sick and weak hubby who now has a feeding tube. Like a newborn baby he certainly requires a lot of attention right now but after 50+ years of living with the man I think he is definitely worth it. 

So anyway...I have been big stitch hand quilting on Smitten with red perle #8 because that is what I have on hand.  If I stitch long lines I run several needles at one time in a hoop of fabric. That is particularly helpful at this time because I had to get a new hoop because the other one not only had cracked clamps but one of the base pieces had snapped. The clamps always seem so tight on new Qsnap hoops so it's not that easy to get them off and on.  But now they are starting to loosen up a bit, thank goodness. 

Smitten is one of three quilts I ended up making with three big old Castle Wall blocks. This one is inspired by a vintage quilt and has a couple of my favorite things...hearts and roses.   If you would like to know more of the Smitten story I blogged about it back in February. 

I 💓 this one. It said "Be mine, valentine" to me. 

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts

 

June Leaders and Enders

"Brown Stuff"

My June leaders and enders were little brown three inch

 Nine Patches

in civil war reproduction fabrics

for my Whirl quilt.

I think there's 42 of them. 

And sew on...

 

Shirts and Giggles - A Finish!

It's a finish! 

Shirts and Giggles

76 inches square

hand quilted

vintage inspired

This is the vintage quilt that inspired me to make my own version. I saw it on Ebay a long time ago.

Made from men's shirts from the thrift store (Shirts) and some 1930s reproduction prints that remind me of my grandmother's dresses (Giggles). 

Broken Wheels, Flying Geese, Puss in the Corner blocks. 

I finished the top back in 2019.

Big stitch hand quilted with blanc perle #12.

The backing and binding.

The crocus were blooming in little patches in the lawn (where the squirrels must have scattered them over the years) near my clothesline a few days ago. Now you can see what's on the ground near my clothesline and I think there is more predicted for today. Well, at least I know Spring is trying to sprung!! 

And sew on...

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts

Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework

 

Vintage Inspired Finish: Double X and Snowballs

It's a finish!

Double X and Snowballs

48 x 64

Inspired by a c. 1860 quilt in the Pat Nikols collection at the Mingei International Museum

(Good thing I took the pictures a few days ago. It snowed all day yesterday and we have several inches on the ground now.) 

Inspired by the vintage quilt,  I started making these blocks as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) project to use scraps back in 2019. Since I was making them from scraps and sometimes I had to wait for scraps to happen it took me two years to collect enough blocks for a quilt. The background was a piece of aging mint green yardage begging to be used.  The number of four inch blocks I made for this quilt was determined by how many blocks I could make with the mint green yardage.   I actually had to "poverty piece" some mint fabric in order to have enough to finish up blocks. 

October 2020 I had 96 Snowballs and 96 Double X blocks and out of background. At 48 x 64 that's a little smaller quilt than I wanted but so it goes. At that point the block set went into my SAR (Some Assembly Required) box. 

March 2021 I made the top. 

And now in 2023 it is quilted and finished! Gosh, it only took four years to make this quilt!

I quilted it on my DSM with diagonal lines in lime thread. 

The binding is the same as the backing. 

The backing is a green floral that looked kind of vintage-y to me. 

And sew on...

Finished or Not Finished Friday at Alycia Quilts

Peacock Party at Wendy's Quilts and More

 

What's In The Hoop?

What's in the hoop?

Shirts and Giggles

76 inches square

Top finished in March 2019.

Inspired by a vintage quilt.

Made with thrift store shirts (shirts) and fabrics I thought might look like dresses my grandmother wore back in the day (giggles) - 1930s reproduction fabrics. 

My grandmother who taught me to sew used old clothes to make her quilts and I used to love to look at all the fabrics. Sometimes she would tell me stories about the fabrics - "that used to be Uncle Leo's shirt and then later I cut it up to make a shirt for your Dad" (13 years younger than his brother Leo) or "your Aunt Betty made that dress to wear to a dance and many dances thereafter then she handed it down to your Aunt Elsie and later I made an apron out of it".  

Big stitch hand quilting with perle blanc #12.

Previous post with finished top as well as vintage inspiration on March 26, 2019. 

And sew on...

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts

 

The Last Castle Wall Block

Smitten

63 x 81

It's a top! 

This month the theme in my sewing space has been Hearts and Flowers. I challenged myself to move UFOs forward that fit that theme. You may or may not remember my blog post at the beginning of the month where I pondered what to do with three very old super sized Castle Wall blocks.  Well, now its the end of the month and all three blocks are out of the box and in quilt tops.  This last block was made in 2014 so it's about time I guess. 

Actually this quilt was inspired by a vintage c. 1890-1900 quilt top that Mary Elizabeth Kinch blogged about in 2018.  I've had it on my list of "want to makes" ever since I saw it. I have to say my version is a bit wilder and more colorful. 

I used lots and lots of scraps left over from making lots of other tops this month with valentine fabrics. I also threw in some scraps with birds and roses since those were in the Castle Block. 

The center section has lots and lots of 2 inch squares. 

And then there's 3.5 inch squares...

...and some 6.5 inch squares...

...and finally there are some 3.5 x 9.5 inch rectangles. 

And sew on...

Oh Scrap! At Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework