A Quilt for Torin

Maybe you do this too. I LOVE to start quilts. I started this one more than a year ago, to celebrate the birth of our friends' first grandchild, Torin. He was born on November 6, 2011. Isn't he cute?

Luckily, we get to see him for his first birthday this week. Sometimes things work out: this year my life is much more calm and I finished the quilt. Here it is. It measures 34" x 48". It's machine stitched and quilted so it will hopefully hold up for many washings over the years.

It's made of blues and greens and shirtings I had on hand. 

I gave a presentation about quilt labels this week, which got me thinking about how to label this quilt. I decided to cut out the number 1 shape and sign that. I stitched it on by machine too. I think I'll go over it again to darken up the words...

Pine Burr Style Rug

Eagle-eyed Maggie Bonanomi spotted this rug at market.

It was in an antique booth - Cindy's Antique Quilts of Clinton, OK. Cindy was kind enough to let me photograph it.

It's made in a reverse kind of pine-burr style - it is worked from the outside to the center. The final raw edges in the center are covered with some piecing. Cindy thought it dated to the 1920s, although some of the fabrics are older than that. You can see from the detail that some wonderful quirky fabrics were used - shirtings, plaids, clarets, indigos ... you name it. It is in pristine, gorgeous condition. I didn't measure it but I'd guess it is about 2' x 4'.

The back is original. It's rough burlap with black stitching showing through.







Cindy is online at www.cindysantiquequilts.com.

Someone should buy this!! Someone who loves pine burrs!!

More Market

A few more shots of things I liked:

I love the name of this quilt: What's for Breakfast by Karen Anderson-Abraham. Karen is influenced by modernist painters of the 20th century, most specifically the Bauhaus movement.

This one has a wonderful name too: The 48 Pound Quilt by Tanya Finken. There are 42 pound symbols on the front, six more hiding on the back!

Pojagi-influenced Hearths Aglow by Katrina Walker is absolutely beautiful.

Amy's Barickman's outfit - love the fabric.

 

Victoria's Quilt with Friends: Exquisite Journey. Six friends made panels that link with a road, foreground and sky elements...the artists are Leslie Rucker Jenison, Frances Holliday Alford, Kathy York, Victoria Findlay Wolfe, Michele Muska and Hoodie Crescent.

Market was not Spooky

A pre-Halloween and especially a pre-Presidential election quilt market can be spooky. I didn't sense those jitters from years before this year.It was upbeat, bright and far from gloomy. Then again, it's fabric world, full of things we all love. And I left before all the storm jitters started...

What did I like?

A wall o' fabric by Marcia Derse. AH! Several of us confessed to collecting fabric by Marcia but being unable to cut it up, we love it so much...

The fabric designer who wore a skirt. Thomas Knauer for Andover. That was different. He loves fabric!


Modern quilts on display. This one is called Cutting Edge Conglomerate. It was made by Earamichia Brown and the NYC Metro Mod Quilters, quilted by Jackie Kunkel.

And the best Treat YO Self books I saw:

Inspired Art Quilting by Jean Wells. Her work continues to be pure inspiration for me.





15 Minutes Play by Victoria Findlay Wolfe. Wow! Victoria has taken our beloved scrappy style and made some very clever and exciting quilts. I was really impressed with them and can't wait to get a copy of the book!

There's more - I will continue with another blog - soon...

Be sure to VOTE!

My friend Barbara Brackman some created political fabric. She took a photo of one of the candidates and dropped it into some historic fabric, courtesy of her Photoshop skills.

She gave me a sample and I of course started adding little scraps of fabric all around the main character. I added a calming inner border, then finished with a border of more scraps. I've long admired the Pearlies and thought a message with shell buttons would add just the right message in a rather subtle way.

We are lucky - we CAN vote freely in the coming election. So no matter what, be sure to

My little quilt measures 24" x 27". Check out the link to Barbara's blog above - her fabric is available for all...

A Message from my Grandma

I am still letting go of stuff. Last night I sorted through boxes of old photos.
I found some great photos I had forgotten about. Some were framed. I was taking them out of frames, scanning them, and putting them in a folder for safekeeping.

The frames are piled nearby, ready for the antique mall booth. The cardboard and paper that went with them were in the recycle pile. I carried it out to the bin this morning. One piece of cardboard turned over and I recognized my grandma's handwriting. Here's what it said:

I had forgotten that. The frame is wonderful, "antiqued" in the popular 1970s style.

This frame is staying, along with Grandma's note. Is this not the best example ever of the importance of labeling your work - whether it is a treasured frame or a quilt? She's been gone for years but I know she would be delighted that her reminder worked.

Thelma Iris Tunison Poore, 1941

Thanks, Grandma. I miss you.

A Woven Ticking Rug

I'm travelling today. I found this woven ticking rug at an antique shop in Iowa and thought wow! I've not seen a rug like this before. And the thrifty price was so good I decided to take it home and try to follow it to make one of my own.

It measures 22" across. The torn ticking strips vary in width - 1/2" to 3/4".  The center seems to start with strips laid across each other, then the weaving begins.

As the rug gets larger, extra strips are added (see left). The strip is folded at a space where there is room (so 2 strips extend outward), then the weaving continues.

This view shows 2 points where strips were added - one just outside the center, the other about 7 woven strips later.

The maker finished the rug by zig-zagging the edges on the sewing machine.