Grandmother's Fan quilt - an acquisition

When I was in Austin for QuiltCon, I heard that Danielle (@petitselefants) bought a beautiful antique quilt from a shop not too far away.  Antique quilts are few and far between in New Zealand so I had to investigate the shop (Uncommon Objects) and see for myself.  I ended up visiting twice - the first time I saw this quilt but didn't buy it, and I kept thinking about it all through QuiltCon.  On our very last day in Austin I stopped in and picked it up.  I couldn't resist! 

 

It's a beautiful grandmother's fan design, made with what are probably genuine 1930's fabrics, scalloped edging and a couple of interesting solid fabrics.

 

It's a pretty big quilt - the photo above is my brother and my dad holding it "landscape" because it was too long for them to hold it "portrait".  It's in amazingly good condition as well - there are a few places where the quilting has come undone but the fabrics are not particularly worn or stained.  The guy who sold it to me didn't know its provenance (and it doesn't have a label on it), but he thought the fabrics were from the 1930's and the quilt was probably made in the 1940's or 1950's.

 

The quilt appears to be pretty much entirely hand pieced, and it's definitely hand quilted.  That scalloped edging must have taken forever!

I could just stare at it for ages.  You can tell its really vintage - there are a few places where two pieces of the same fabric have been joined together (for example, to make a dresden blade), where the quilter obviously didn't have a single piece of fabric that was big enough.

Since this quilt has survived so long relatively undamaged, I'm keen to keep it in good condition (probably best not to let the cats claw it then).  My plan is to stitch a hanging sleeve to the back and then hang it in a space at the end of my hallway.  It doesn't really get any sun so it should be a good place for a quilt.

Have you ever bought a vintage or antique quilt?  What did you do with it?

Pink, red and blue cushion

A few weeks ago I shared a quilt I was working on.  The quilt is finished now, but I'm keeping it under wraps until I'm ready to hand it over to the recipient.

 

When I was making the quilt, I made four extra blocks.  Making more blocks than is strictly necessary for a quilt is a technique I like to ensure a good balance across the quilt.  It can be easier to make extra blocks up front, rather than feeling like you're finished with the quilt top and then having to make more.

 

I may also have had a cushion made from the extra blocks in mind as well!

 

I'm pleased with this cushion.  Without the sashing and the border fabric, it's quite different to the quilt, but similar as well.  The quilt is straight line quilted, but I decided to stipple this one.  I like the contrast of the curvy quilting against the angles and straight lines of the churn dash blocks.

 

Sometimes I buy fabric and it sits in my stash I start wondering whether it was a good purchase.  The binding is one of those fabrics - I bought it with binding in mind (hello, stripes) and then it sat in my stash for quite a while.  When I pulled the fabrics for this quilt, I realised it was the perfect binding for this quilt, and this cushion.  I'm going to have more faith in my fabric buying abilities from now on.

I used my covered zip cushion back tutorial for the back.  It's been a while so I had to refer back to my tutorial for a couple of the steps.

I'm tempted to keep this cushion to add to the growing pile on my couch, but I think it probably belongs with the pink, red and blue quilt that spawned it.

Anyone else like to make extra blocks for their quilts, with or without cushions in mind?

I'll be linking this finish up with crazy mom quilts.

WIP Wednesday

I started a new project this weekend, as part of another skills swap, with a friend of mine from work. She is painting me a picture (or possibly a triptych) in exchange for a quilt, and I'm excited to see what she comes up with. She showed me a few photos of her bedroom which has a pink, red and aqua theme going on, in a fairly eclectic way. For whatever reason, that colour combo screamed vintage to me, so I'm running with it.

We set a deadline to complete our projects by the end of the year, but on Saturday morning I thought I'd just have a quick look through my stash to see what suitable fabrics I had. This block appeared shortly after.

It was quickly joined by 3 others.

And then another four.  And by the end of the day I had the components of 24 blocks made, so my HST blocks are ready for trimming and then to be assembled into churn dash blocks. I'll only use 20 blocks in the finished quilt, but I wanted to make extras so I can determine the layout later.

I really enjoyed getting into my stash of 1930's repro prints, and doing something quite different from my norm.  I'm planning to sash these blocks and add a border, so it will end up quite a traditional looking quilt.  Hopefully I'll have more progress to show you soon!

I'm linking up with Lee at Freshly Pieced: