Wednesday, October 20, 2010

A Block Scrapbook=Carnival!

I LOVE this quilt top. I found it in Manhattan, Kansas a few years ago. It was truly love at first sight.

This top has travelled to many guild presentations with me. An older woman in our guild told me tops like this used to be made often in quilt groups. Everyone in the group would give a leftover block to one quilter and she would put them all together. The quilt historian kind of confirms that. She said what is interesting about this top is how many fabrics are from the same era (1920s - 1930s).

It measures 62" x 66". Most of the blocks are about 12 1/2" square. Besides being visually over the top, what is great about this top is that every piece was pieced on a foundation (there is understandably a combination of hand and machine piecing). Finding it unquilted makes that easier to study.

Thanks to Sujata for the name! You are good at naming quilts!

7 comments:

  1. Deb,
    This quilt top is quite an inspiration for quilters like me who constantly want more out of our own creativity!
    Victoria Findlay just finished a top like this with the similar concept. It turned out beautiful!
    I am honored that you are using the name Carnival for the quilt. That's just what it is.. lots of happiness and happening among small and large blocks, Just like people!

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  2. Kazowie! Every time you post one of these older quilts, I think it's my all-time favorite. Today it's this one!

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  3. One can assign personalities to these blocks: the impulse quilters, the tidy and meticulous quilters, the adventurous, the ones who love detail, the ones who love orange, etc. Love it.

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  4. The orange block in the last row shown in the picture really catches my eye. It is the first thing I saw when I looked at the picture.

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  5. I like the part about the blocks being "about 12 1/2" square" :) Sometimes I think the Quilt Police have gotten too much to us in this generation.

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  6. This is beautiful...sort of a primer for the year ahead in quilt making...wild and wonderful but with a sense of order to. It a little bit makes me wish for a quilt group...!

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  7. There are some really crazy blocks in that quilt that add to its charm. Easy to imagine a guild of women behind that quilt.

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