Summertime is a great time to think ahead and finish those Christmas quilts. I loved this darling Grinch client quilt made with panels. The minkee which she used to back the quilt will make it warm and cuddly for the special little person in her life. Minkee really makes my quilting look good.
Have a quilty day!!
It’s fall here in the Upper Midwest, the trees are all turning magnificent colors and the weather is beginning to cool. It is also quilt show season, before winter driving becomes an issue. Here are my top five reasons to go to quilt shows:
I hope you enjoy some quilt shows this fall!!
I watched the Olympics this last week with interest–yes, there was some yelling going on at my house as we cheered our favorite athletes to victory. My mind and the internet combine with, sometimes, curious results. I originally thought that I would write about quilts and the Olympics. For example, during the Atlanta Olympics in 1996, each athlete received a quilt, pictures of which are published in this book: Olympic Quilts. However, I thought I’d go a little further back in time to the 17th century. Yes, there were Olympick Games in Cotswald, England starting in 1622, the games included sledgehammer throwing, horse racing, jumping, fencing, and, my personal favorite, shin-kicking. I had no idea that shin-kicking was a sport, I thought it was just a game we played in school while waiting for the bus to pick us up. Yes, it is real and it is still played today…they even have a Youtube video:
Padding the shins in ‘modern’ shin-kicking is seen as essential–the sport has set aside the more extreme elements of the rules such as steel toed boots and winning by breaking the leg of the opponent. Likewise padding was seen as essential in many of the fashion trends of the 17th through 19th centuries. Waistcoats and petticoats for women and doublet’s for men were quilted both for warmth and to show off the wealth and status of the wearer. In fact, some of the earliest quilts in the Americas were items of clothing.
These quilted pieces were valued by their owners and were recorded in household inventories and wills. I get inspiration from looking at many of these items. Of course on cold winter days here in Wisconsin I often yearn to wear a silk quilted petticoat!!
Today I finished this beautiful fall quilt sampler with a wonderful oak leaf pattern by Kim Diamond. Th!e autumn colors make me want to snuggle into this quilt with a warm cup of tea (at least for a minute or two–it’s in the 90s and humid). I know that soon the trees will be losing their leaves and temperatures will drop. This quilt is big! 120″x 122″!! The quiltmaker did a beautiful job keeping the points in the quilt pointy and the seams matching where they were supposed to match. 
I chose an edge to edge design which reflected the season of the color palette, which would allow the piecing to be the ‘star’ of the show and which would give the quilt a soft and cuddly texture.
You can see the oak leaves and meander on the back of the quilt. On the front of the quilt the quilting only shows in the borders where it adds texture and movement to the piece.
Are you ready for fall? I’m sending my youngest son off to college in the next couple of weeks–I’m not sure I’m old enough for that to happen yet! (lol.) Enjoy your quilting adventure!!
I sometimes see quilts with rounded corners come across my appraisal table. The gently curved bound corner is as tricky to sew as a mitered corner. I tried curved corners on my ‘We Support You’ quilt which you can read about here.
The curve is easy to accomplish with the aid of a binding cut on the bias. The bias tape should lay flat with no puckers and the corner shouldn’t pull the corner of the quilt toward the front or back. I also would recommend curving your corners if you want to use the binding attachment on your sewing machine.
According to Barbara Brackman there are not many quilts made prior to the 20th century with bias binding, yet there are many examples of curved corners. I wondered if the number of curved corners in the 20th century increased as a result of the use of bias binding, so I went to the Quilt Index to find out. The Quilt Index has a huge database of many quilts from all time periods. We can thank the many volunteers who have collected pictures and information through state documentation projects, museums, and collections. In addition the many organizations who have funded this massive project. It is a wonderful resource for both information and inspiration; and a great place to browse through on a lazy summer afternoon!
19th century quilts from online auctions with rounded corners.
I started my quest by doing a search on ’rounded corners’. The results came back with close to 900 quilts! Since I wanted to compare the trends between 10 year periods of time, I removed those quilts with no dates, no images, and duplicates from the search results. I also deleted from the search the quilts with shaped edges, i.e. scalloped, jagged, zig-zags, notched; and the quilts which were not shaped like a rectangle or square, i.e. octagons and circles. Removing those quilts from my search results brought the number of quilts with rounded corners down to approximately 500. I was very surprised by the small proportion of quilts in the index which have rounded corners. I guess I’m in the minority who think that rounded corners are easier to sew!!! 
Next, I compared the percentage of quilts with rounded corners across the decades to the total number of quilts from those decades. I expected the percentage of quilts with rounded corners to increase in the 20th century because using bias binding became more common. I know that I’ve seen more quilts from the 1930’s with rounded corners, but I think that is because I’ve seen more quilts from that period of time.
In the chart above, notice how the number of quilts entered into the Quilt Index varies a great deal by decade. You can see the peaks of the 1880/90, 1920/30, and the 1970/80 quilt revivals. According to the chart above, the percentage of quilts with rounded corners entered into the Quilt Index has not changed over time. We may think that rounded corners increase in the twentieth century simply because we see more quilts from that period of time. I did find that there were more scalloped, zig zag, and jagged quilts from the 20th century.
20th century quilts from online auctions with rounded corners.
I’ve run across certain blogs that say that rounded corners in an antique quilt are an indication that the quilt is from the southern United States. I did a ‘quick and dirty’ look through the Quilt Index and found that there did not appear to be a relationship between rounded corners and region where the quilt was made. However, the search form does not allow a specific search for ‘location made’ and ’rounded corners’, so I searched through the entire index using ’rounded corners state’. This method appeared to be working until I got to Michigan…a great number of quilts have ‘Michigan’ in their records because that is where the Quilt Index is housed–University of Michigan. My curiosity was frustrated! I would be interested to know if anyone has further insight and evidence into regional differences and rounded corners.
In the meantime, I’m thinking up future searches of the Quilt Index and many more hours looking at beautiful quilts.
Have fun on your quilting adventure!
I have a quilting bucket list and this log cabin quilt checked off one of the items on that bucket list. Looking back helps gives me (re)inspiration for some of the quilts I’m making today. In this log cabin, made entirely from scraps, I used a central red square, scrappy white/off white shirting, and darker scrappy logs.
I loved quilting this on my longarm because I was able to use different quilting designs in each of the diagonal sections of the triangles. I used a design by Kathy “Beany” Balmart at Quilty Pleasures from her Cascade bundle.
I loved trying it out on my log cabin. Designs like this would work really well on many pieced blocks which have strong diagonal lines across the quilt top. Do you have one in your bucket list?
I feel like I should be putting one hand on my forehead and one on my heart as I sink gracefully onto a fainting couch. But, no, it isn’t that kind of a swoon, the quilt on my longarm today is made using the pattern, Swoon, by Camille Roskelley. It is a wonderful pattern which is well written and easy to make. There are many ways to quilt a Swoon quilt top and for, me, that is one of the challenges–because I want to try them all!! For this quilt, I chose a block pattern from One Song Needle Arts which would lay nicely in the block, emphasizing the different segments of the block, and yet be a cohesive design. I always try to add ways which cause a viewer to look at a quilt and find interest from across the room, from closer, and then from closer still. One way to do that is to lay a quilting design on top of the quilt so that it doesn’t follow the piecing exactly, but it emphasizes it.
As I design a quilt layout, I look for designs which repeat motifs found in the fabric, in the piecing and/or in the applique. For the Swoon quilt I noticed that several fabrics had circles, and that several had flowers. I chose to combine several different flowers by Anita Shackelford for the sashing.
I was very pleased with the way that the quilting turned out.
Now is a great time to get started on Christmas gift piecing. I can guarantee that any quilt sent to me for quilting in August will be quilted before Christmas (custom or edge to edge).
Have a great quilting adventure!!
For the last many years Bonnie Hunter does a mystery quilt starting right after Thanksgiving and ending at Christmas. I’ve wanted to play along for several years, but this year I did it! I kept up, mostly, until the last week when we welcomed out of town guests (my parents); my washing machine died; I discovered that my 1/4″ seam allowance wasn’t correct; and I needed fabric for the borders and backing. Once the holidays were over, I took out the seams which were incorrect and found a black fabric with a hint of sparkle for the border. Allietare! means to rejoice and I’m thrilled to add this quilt to my collection. Bonnie’s directions were very clear, even down to which direction to press seams, and I didn’t have any bulky seam intersections, which can be difficult for the longarm to go through.
Bonnie’s inspiration photos for the quilt and its color scheme which I mostly followed, were from her trip to Italy. I also took a trip to Italy (as a student), so I chose my memories of the marble in churches and cathedrals as my inspiration for the fabric in the quilt. Many of the fabrics have a bit of metallic shine or luster like the beautiful mosaics I saw. I was so impressed and surprised by the spectacular cathedral in Sienna, Italy, that I still remember it today, many years later. The unique multicolored stonework, inside and out, was a great inspiration for this quilt–it kept me sewing through frustration (at myself) and it inspired me to be accurate and thoughtful in my design choices.. The fabric in the quilt is almost entirely from my stash, and with the exception of the black border. (Un)fortunately, my stash still is too large–I will just have to make more quilts!!
Although I love to custom quilt my own quilts (and clients’ quilts too!). I decided that I wanted to try to do an edge to edge design, but arrange the designs so that it would look like a whole-cloth design. I really liked the Twisted Plumage design by Naomi Hynes. The quilting lets the piecing take a starring role when viewing the quilt top, but the quilting certainly becomes the main event on the back of the quilt.
I finished the outside edge of the quilt with a wavy edge and bound it with a bias binding.
Enjoy your quilting adventures!!
Each quiltmaker trusts me to enhance their quilt with quilting. I feel both blessed to have that trust and a bit nervous as well. I feel the nerves especially when receiving a vintage or antique top to complete. I collaborate with my client to make several decisions about an antique/vintage top:
The quilt maker, who gave me this beautiful redwork quilt to finish, found these beautiful blocks among her grandmother’s things, including the block labeled 1932. It is such a wonderful block to include in this quilt because it documents when the blocks were made along with the family history regarding the blocks and the maker.
Redwork embroidery became popular just as the fad for crazy quilts was waning during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Women entrepreneurs contributed to the spread of its popularity, both as pattern designers and pattern markers. Mothers frequently purchased ‘penny’ squares, squares of cotton with a stamped design, to practice embroidery skills or to give to their children for practice. As the 20th century progressed, designs were distributed in collections, such as States, Presidents, State Birds and Flowers, Fairy Tales, Colonial, and, of course, Sunbonnet Sue. People collected the blocks and then placed them in quilts. You can see more red work examples here. There are also blue work quilts, embroidered with blue thread, over many of the same designs.
I chose to do a ‘Baptist’ (or ‘Lutheran’ or ‘Methodist’) fan pattern and quilted right on top of the embroidery. Fortunately, I could quilt through the embroidery because it laid flat and tight to the background. The fan pattern was frequently used was a very popular design during the 1930’s and throughout history. It is one of the easiest patterns for a hand quilter to do because it requires little, to no, marking. One simply uses the elbow as a pivot point on a compass to form the fan shape:
To hand quilt a fan start in the position indicated by the light pink forearm in the image above, continue moving the forearm, with the elbow fixed in place, until the forearm is in the position of the dark pink forearm. Tie off the thread, move your elbow (stretching helps) and then place the elbow and arm to do the next line of stitching. Machine quilting a fan is a little bit trickier because it involves either multiple tie-offs or tracing previously stitched lines. On a domestic machine you can mark one of the fan lines and then use a walking foot to quilt it. For subsequent lines in the fan use the walking foot guide to keep lines spaced correctly. On my longarm the fan design requires a little extra set up and a quilt top which is square so that it begins and ends at the same points from side to side of the quilt.
Here is a last look at the darling bunny on the quilt. I wonder if he will share those carrots?
Have a quilty day!!
I love quilting baby quilts and this sweet pattern with small Churn Dash blocks is no exception. I wanted the quilting to reflect the vintage pattern and the retro feel of the fabric. The blocks were 6 inches square, which is about half the size of a standard block (12″). It would look funny if a quilting pattern designed for a 12″ block was used on a 6′ block. In my software, Creative Studios 6, I was able to preview the quilting design.
In the first example, the Butterfly and Flower design by Kim Diamond, is shown on the quilt top as if it were stitched out with the default size of 12″, notice how large the flowers of the quilting design are compared to the size of the block, and the individual pieces which make up the block. In addition, the size of the flowers in the quilting design are approximately 10 times larger compared to the size of the flowers in the fabric.
In the second example, the quilting is denser, but it is also more in scale with the block size and the scale of the prints. I much prefer being able to preview how my quilting is going to look on my computer monitor and then hitting ‘undo’ than to quilt something out which I don’t like and taking my seam ripper out to undo it!
The finished quilt had a soft, ‘quilty’ look and feel–just perfect to wrap a baby!!
Have a quilty day!!
Lovelli Quilts 
