Early Modern

I found this at garage sale this morning. What a treat for us! The quilt measures 68'' x 89'' complete with 63 hand-pieced improvised blocks for us to examine. That could take a while, so let's start now. Most of the blocks measure 7" square- some around the edges are smaller ...

The blocks are old. The fabrics date to the turn of the last century, more proof that improvised quilts are nothing new or modern. Neither is the use of white for a background. White setting strips are what make this quilt possible - they adjust for variations in the block sizes.

 

 

 

 

 

Indigos were plentiful around 1900.

Some of the fabrics have deteriorated in this block, but isn't the intense piecing in the left middle amazing.

This block comes close to being uniform - but check out those tiny corners.

And now for the price - 

I didn't even unfold it, i just bought it. If you'd like to see this quilt in person, I'll have it along when I speak to my guild, the Kaw Valley Quilters Guild, Monday evening and Tuesday morning. The evening meeting begins at 7, the morning at 930. Both are at Plymouth Congregational Church in downtown Lawrence, Kansas, where the 150th anniversary of Quantrill's Raid is being remembered this weekend.

Niko's Quilt

 

As soon as I found out Niko's mom was pregnant, I wanted to make this quilt. Her mom Leslie is one of our favorite people in Lawrence (and her dad is great too). I had so much fun pulling together a pile of pink scraps out of my collection. I put them together in my favorite style (improvised) and tied it all together with strips of the very bright fabric I used for the backing. I was so excited, I would get this done on time.

And then it sat. Niko got old enough to stand on the bar at our favorite brewery and smile at her dad Torrey! 

I kept NOT getting to the quilting... but a few weeks ago I resolved to finish it. I just quilted it in a grid so it would be nice and sturdy.


Niko is a year old now, maybe old enough to enjoy examining some of the wacky fabrics in her quilt. 

Here are a few details - the final quilt measures about 38" square:

I used lots of fabrics - vintage, contemporary - even fabric printed by my friend Linda Frost.

 

 

 

My initials, embroidered.

Seen in the local Antique Mall

Since I am getting NOTHING done in the sewing room, I must continue to report on the odd things I witness in Lawrence, Kansas.
Today, I did my shift at the local antique mall, where I have a booth. Oh it was a slow day in the mall. NOTHING was happening. For a person who likes to stay continually busy, it was quite a challenge.
Luckily, I have my cell phone with me. Last time I worked, I busied myself with a 1950s decorating book, recording images of things I would like to make with bias tape, Joe Cunningham style. Nice, right?

A Ben Ross printed textile

Today, I accomplished nothing that productive. Oh no, I found this!

 

It is an original painting. The sales tag reads, "Doggy portrait - Princess Pooch."

This painting is disturbing on so many levels. Besides the bow and protrouding tongue, what the heck is swathed aroung this pup? AND what kind of hand is holding it in place? It seems to be a portrait that includes the dogowner's badly configured hand, don't you think?

This can be yours for the bargain price of $25. I'll keep an eye on it and see how quickly it sells.

Garage Sale Girl Fight!

I've written before that I enjoy going to garage sales because generally, everyone is nice. We talk, we poke around the stuff, we dig out our dollars / quarters and take their stuff home with us.

Yesterday, we witnessed our first girl fight EVER at a garage sale. Here's how it happened (please note I refer to this as a girl fight because of the behavior, which reminded me of junior high - these were two grown women):

We had been at a very nice sale for a few minutes - enough time to have already bought a few items. We were milling around to see what else there was. I was at one end of a porch when I heard two women (hereafter referred to as the box-holder and the box-wanter)  talking at the other end. It caught my attention when I heard one of them say, "NO, you cannot look at this!" The box-holder was brandishing a box filled with neatly bagged jewelry. Insults flew. We heard, "You are dressed like a slut!" "You are a country bitch!"  "What country would that be? Not this one!"

The garage sale host and I raised eyebrows. "They are fighting!" one of us murmured, staring in disbelief.

The combatants continued to mill around, hurling insults, box-holder rarely making eye contact with the box-wanter, who finally turned and left, hollering, "I hope you can't afford anything in that box!" 

Box-holder then told all assembled that they had encountered each other before and that box-wanter often demanded what someone else had in their hands - which is a no-no in garage sale world. Garage sale host looked at me and grumbled, "Well, she'd better buy everything in that box because she wouldn't share!"

Just then I noticed this lovely tin of buttons. I am sure glad they didn't want that!

Improv Day 2

I had made fabric in mind for the sky. So I pieced and pieced.

I also tried a little made fabric for the lower right corner - shards from the top sections.

Here's how they look with the rest.

Hmmm. That sky is too much. 

This may be better. You can see I've got my work cut out for me today. That bottom left corner needs help. I want it to be different than the right corner. Ripping out will happen today! I'm enjoying photographing these - that helps me see it even better ...

Improv Day 1

I figured just starting would be one of the hardest parts of this project.

So I started with the railings. I'm working with a black & white photo - which helps me see color value clearly. The railings came together with a remnant and some tiny checkered seersucker from a shirt.

I chose a roofline fabric - a few darker pieces for the shadow. On to the first floor windows. Yellows, red railings. I think this old feedsack fabric will work for the chimney.

I'm liking the work of Day 1. How odd is this? That orange fabric scrap on the roof formed a bird shape. That was a total accident, just serendipity. Quite fun!

Improv Time

OK. Deep breath. I read about an online challenge recently and I'm going to give it a go. It's the architectural challenge on Victoria's website. I live in a mid-century modern house that I find pretty exciting. 

Here are some fabrics I might use. I've been thinking about this a lot - this afternoon, I start.