Antique Quilt Top to Finished Quilt

Last year I bought an antique butterfly quilt top from the shop "A String or Two" on Etsy. The top was in really good condition, with only a spot that looks like maybe a scorch mark from an iron, but not too noticeable.

Antique butterfly quilt

 I used a plain muslin backing and sent it off to Marie of Blueberry Hill Quilts to be quilted. She chose an all-over butterfly pattern that is just a subtle hint back to the appliquéd butterflies in the quilt top. The binding is a 1930's reproduction that is ok colourwise, but a bit too small a pattern for the prints used in the butterfly appliqué.

Butterfly Quilt close up

Although many antique quilts are rarely used, I intend to put this one on the guest bed and to show it off there if I ever get my guest room back from my youngest son! In the meantime, this quilt is hanging on the quilt rack in the dining room and I'm enjoying looking at it every day!

--Ann

Auditioning Sashing for a Scrappy Quilt

Yesterday I showed you the lovely scrappy eight patches that I was making for a comfort quilt for our guild's Stone Soup Day.

Today, I want to show you how I audition different fabrics to finish a scrappy quilt. Sometimes I will know what I want to use as a main fabric before I start, but with the variety of scraps I was working with this time, I knew I wanted to save this step until after I had the centre eight-patches completed.

Here's some of the fabrics I pulled that I thought might work, in no particular order:

Option 1: Olive green with stars

Option 2: teal blue

Option 3: tan

Option 4: bright blue

Option 5: Print on light tan

Option 6: Print on light brown

Option 7: light tan

Let me know in the comments below which option you like best! 

--Ann



PS So, after laying these out & taking photos, I actually did the math to figure out how much fabric I need for the sashing. Turns out that I don't have enough of any of these fabrics, so a trip to the fabric store is in the works. Stay tuned to see what I actually decide!

Scrappy Goodness

At least once a year, one of the quilt guilds I belong to (Dalemead Quilters Guild), gets together to make comfort quilts that go to one of three local organizations. We call our sewing day "Stone Soup Day" after the story of the soup that starts with a single stone and as everyone contributes what they are able, they have enough to feed everyone. 

When that same principle is applied to quilting, some people bring fabric, some sewing skills, some batting, some quilt, some put on binding and finally some sew on labels. And the end result is a pile of quilts!

 

 

 


This year I saw a quilt pattern at another group I sew with called "Crazy Eights" that I thought would make a great comfort quilt for our Stone Soup Day. I did a quick search when I got home and found the pattern over here at Fons and Porter. I didn't order the pattern as it looked simple enough to figure out and I didn't want to use strips, but the overflowing pile of 2.5" squares I've been cutting and saving for a very long time!

This is what is left after sewing what I needed - this bucket was full!

So on what is called "National Quilting Day" down in the states (not sure if it's called anything here in Canada, but we'll celebrate with our southern neighbours!) I packed up my sewing machine, 2.5" scraps and headed off to sew with a lovely group of women for our Stone Soup Day.

Sewing four-patches into eight-patches

After a full day (well, it's not a sweat shop, so I didn't put in a full 8 hours!), I had enough of my scraps sewn together into four-patches to make the 80 eight patch units that are needed for this quilt!

A lovely pile of scrappy eight-patches!

Tomorrow I'll show you how they look with a variety of fabrics for sashing and what I chose in the end! Till then, happy quilting!

--Ann