2000 squares of fabric - Done! Almost.

2000 1-inch squares

Well, the 2000 pieces of my 1-inch reproduction of my original Y2K quilt (huge queen size) are now stitched together...almost...it is pinned to the wall in four sections so I still need to sew three horizontal seams.


I need to add the border.


My original was featured in QUILT magazine along with a graphed pattern.  And it was part of a special exhibit of the Y2K quilts at the Houston Quilt show in 1999.  You can read about that exhibit here.

Spring 2001 Issue

I still have squares left over.  And Jean in Mill Bay can look for a packet of 950 squares in the mail to make her own Y2K quilt. As she mentioned in an email to me, she considers this a "masochistic plan".  lol.

Jean, I'll try to get that packet in Monday's mail by the latest.  There will also be a number of siggy squares.  I put some on the reverse of my original, but did not use all of them.

Vintage Singer Model 15-91

In the meantime, I'm cleaning up my cutting table...I have a huge pile of "leavings" after cutting 2000 squares down to size.  I cut at 1.25" and used 1/8 inch seams. It was easy to do as my vintage Singer 15-91 has a 1/8 inch pressure foot. Perfect!

The Y2KQ repro

Well, it's coming right along.  I decided to reproduce my Y2K quilt in 1" squares (finished size).  I sew in blocks of 5x5 squares and sew 8 blocks together for each row.  There will be 10 rows total with only one row left to go.


Laying out the fabs is the slowest part. Stitching goes pretty fast.


Gotta keep sewin'!  I may get this done yet!


Sorry about the side-ways photo...sometimes my photos flip when I upload them.



In the small photo you can see that I've included my daughter in this quilt...that's what she looked like about 35 years ago!

Looking forward to getting this done and trying to figure out how to quilt it? Probably by machine...probably with a light batt.

Remember the Y2K Quilt Craze?

Once upon a time, at the height of my quilting addiction, members of the WWQP were swapping "squishies" and "siggies".  The squishies were packets of 25 different fabric charms, each 2.5 inches square.  The siggies were signed signature squares.  What a fun thing it was to reach into the mail box and receive more squishies!

Our goal (challenge) was to make a 2000 piece Y2K charm quilt.  Signature squares were included either on the front or the back of the quilt. Design was of our choice. (If you google "y2k quilt" under "images" you will find many examples.)

My Y2KQ was finished in the Year 2000 and was accepted into an exhibit at the Houston quilt festival (2001??).  It was a huge queen size quilt.

Four years ago I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.  My quilting libido waned. But last fall I decided to duplicate my Y2KQ with one of smaller size.  This time, each square will be 1 inch finished (using a 1/8 inch seam) and the finished quilt will be small enough to hang on the wall as an art quilt.

It's not done but I can't wait any longer to show you.  So far I have completed 1400 squares.  Only 600 more to go.

The assembly is done in blocks of 25 squares (5x5).  I've photographed the original and have it on my computer screen where I can view each square as I select the fabrics.  I lay them out a square at a time, stitch, then assemble by rows.  My vintage Singer 15-91, which is a super-duper gear-driven machine from the 1940s, is doing the stitching. 

So what do you think? Am I crazy or what!!!! LOL

A "new" "old" mini-quilt

Last summer I acquired an antique log cabin quilt (which I thereafter named "trashy log cabin quilt" due to its exceedingly poor condition!


After managing to salvage small strips of fabric I put together a mini quilt to commemorate the original. The rest of the Q went into the trash! It was simply unsalvagable. The backing was rotted. Fabrics were filthy, even after three washings.


This week I basted, quilted, and finished a narrow binding from some antique fabric I had on hand.


The fabs are circa 1900-1910. The yellow I'm certain is earlier. Even though they are faded, I love this mini antique quilt.


And I love how the afternoon winter sun comes into my living room.


The quilt is pinned to the wall over the Singer treadle in its oak parlor cabinet.


In case you've never "pinned" a quilt to the wall...I often use short silk pins to tack a small quilt to the sheetrock wall. A pair of needle-nose pliers works well in pressing the pins through the fabric and into the sheetrock. This won't work on hard plaster walls, so don't even try! lol. If I decide later to remove the quilt, the tiny pin holes are almost unnoticeable.

Don't forget to click on the photos for a close-up view.

My 1900 Trashy Log Cabin quilt

Here is the "unfinished" finished project from what I am calling the Trashy Log Cabin quilt (see my previous post).

Sadly, the fabrics in this quilt were almost unretrievable. The blacks were shattered. The coloreds were exceedingly thin...they were undoubtedly low-thread count when new and after 100 years they are even lower.

All is now in the trash except for these 12 blocks (oops...6 blocks) and my photos. At least the quilt lives on in photo format and in miniature wall quilt size. (you can click for a closer view)

I'll back this with a piece of vintage cotton sacking and finish it. Someday.

Right now it's pinned to my living room wall alongside a tiny quilt made from early 1900s shirting fabric samples (which were in like-new condition when I found them in a box purchased at an auction).

Doncha love the chrome yellow!

Just call me Glutton

When you see the project I took on this week you will call me "glutton for punishment".


Saturday I purchased an antique log cabin quilt. By the fabrics I'm guessing 1900-1910 at the latest. Fabrics include indigos, shirtings, chrome yellow, mourning blacks, checked and plaids, and the reds of that era. (you can click the photos for closer views)


The logs were hand-stitched to a flannel square and then the squares were hand-stitched together. The batt? A lumpy-dumpy thick cotton batt.


The backing fabric had once upon a time been quite lovely but it wore badly. The owner then hand-stitched a white flannel over the major portion of the back. I tried to salvage some of that backing but it was dry-rot.


Some fabs were shredded from age or use. Some are salvageable. But probably only with intense work. So I decided to take it apart (completely!) and restitch the logs to a "small" wall quilt.

Sorry about the sideways full view...it turned sideways when I uploaded it. Tried it twice. Same each time.


I've removed the backing and the batt, leaving only the flannel blocks stitched together. Then I washed it on gentle. Three times. The fabs, of course, are faded. And they still look a bit dingey. But this IS an old quilt. And obviously a much-used quilt.


I'm taking apart the blocks and re-stitching them to a "little" size. The finished block will be five-inches. I would have preferred a smaller "miniature" quilt, but then I would have lost much of the patterns of the fabrics.

I think I have taken on a time-consuming task...haven't decided whether I'll stick with it or not.

My 1930s baby quilt.

I received an email this week that my 1930s repro baby quilt will be the day's featured quilt at Alex and Tim's website.

Go to www.thequiltshow.com and click on the "Enter" Button or go directly to their "Daily Blog".

Anyone can send them pics of quilts to be posted in their quilt gallery. And they've been featuring viewer's quilts at their blog. Mine will be featured Nov. 27.

Surprisingly, I sent this photo some years ago. Since then I gave it to someone as a baby gift...and I haven't a clue who!

My Machine Quilting is a Bit More Subdued Than Schambers!

Yesterday I rinsed and dried a Hobbs 80/20 batt in preparation for layering a recent shirt quilt...nothing fancy, just a scrappy 4-patch. I plan to machine quilt this one and when it is finished I hope to baste yet another shirt quilt that I am working on. (Last night I stitched the rest of the black border in place. You can click for a closer view.)

I want you to know, that while my machine quilting will be free-motion on my vintage Singer 201, it will never, never, never match up to Sharon Schamber's magnificent (albeit tedious) quilting. There simply are not enough years, days, hours in my life to do that. Not to mention that my Singer 201 is pretty stuck on sewing like an ordinary sewing machine from the 1940s. Not to mention that my hubby, who has some health issues, sorta expects me to do the odd jobs around the house...and quilting is not one of those odd jobs. roflol

Nevertheless, I am going to be very content and happy, stitching along, meandering over square after square, looking forward to putting this quilt on a bed.

I do hope some of you will post photos of your latest quilty creations! If you've never posted a photo here, it's simple. Go to "new post" at the top of the page. Then where you would type a message, there is a little icon (landscape with blue sky) that you click. Then you simply browse your computer for the photo you want.

P.S. If some of you blog, leave your blog URL here.
Mine is:
http://revel217.blogspot.com/

Recycled Cotton Shirt Quilt from the past!

Today while digging through my basket(s) of recycled shirt fabrics look what I found! I betcha I finished this top about three years ago. And it was like Christmas to find it again, having forgotten all about it.

I'll be using part of a new (purchased on sale for $12) Ralph Lauren cotton sheet for the backing. Perfect color. Perfect fabric.

And I'll be machine quilting it on my Singer 201 which I named "Leona" after my neighbor, its previous owner.

I hope you can see the red tartan plaids that I carefully cut. Some on the grain. Some on the diagonal. This was great fun to put together, sorta like mindless piecing with careful trimming of the completed blocks to insure same size.

For your viewing pleasure!

And in spite of having two baskets of shirts...I'm always susceptible to buying more. I found two this week at the local thrift shop on sale for 25 cents each. A bargain until I washed them and the red one bled. Tossed it out. Now out of the two, I have ONE 50-cent shirt. lol

It's About Time or Thankfully, It's Done!

Well, ladies, it took me two years to make this quilt...not that I worked on it full-time. Quilting has evolved from a "passion" with me to "handwork to pick up now and then".

I pieced this quilt on my trusty Singer 403, circa 1960, about a year and a half ago. In the closet, high on a shelf, sat several batts (we quilters all buy in quantity, right?). One of those was a Hobbs wool batt that I had been yearning for years to try. I'd heard so many comments that for hand quilting it "quilts like butter". I'd previously used Hobb's Heirloom 80/20 as well as Dream Cotton's "Request", both of which hand quilt very nicely. But I had a yen to try the wool. So I purchased the wool batt...about ten years ago and there it sat. On the shelf. Unused for ten years. (call me a procrastinator)

Well over a year ago I layered my latest shirt quilt using the wool batt. For a backing I used a name brand cotton sheet that I found at the department store for 75 percent off. Ralph Lauren brand??? Can't remember. And I began hand quilting using a saucer, a cereal bowl and a cup from my dinnerware for the "templates".

This poor quilt has had numerous hiccups along the way. Last January I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, had debulking surgery followed by six sessions of chemo and numerous neupogen shots to boost my lowered white blood cell count. Talk about a roller coast of an adventure...not as exciting, of course, but certainly a lot of ups and downs. Needless to say, I had no motivation to quilt. Hah! My preferred activity was lying on the sofa, staring at the ceiling, thinking I really should get up and do SomeThing! Then rolling over to the other end of the sofa, and staring some more. It's easy to look back on it now and think, "It wasn't so bad!" But it was. Not as bad as some have it, but bad. And before I (and you) get maudlin, I want to add that all went well, I finished chemo in July, and I feel better now than I did a year ago before my diagnosis. God grant me that this continues.

Another hiccup was that, forgetting that my dishes were my templates, I gave away that particular set of dishes and put my old set back in the cupboard. The next day I went to mark another block to handquilt, and remembered that my templates now resided next door! Do you think I went next door and asked for a plate, a soup bowl and a cup? No, I couldn't bear to confess and instead dug around in the cupboard until I found dishes that were "close" in size. Betcha can't tell by looking at the quilt. (big smile)

Aw, got to wandering there. I started to say that during those months of chemo I picked up this quilt a couple times and forced myself to quilt a block or two. But progress was slow. Then in August, after treatment was done, I began quilting in earnest again and I finished the binding just yesterday! It's a largish sofa size nap quilt.

I told a friend yesterday I have no inclination to make another quilt. Instead of quilt pox I now have quilt lethargy (even though I myself am not lethargic). But that's not quite true. I'd love to recreate my Y2K quilt in smaller form. My DD loves that quilt and would like to hang it in her home. But the thing is huge! About 80x90 inches! And she doesn't have a wall large enough for an appropriate display. So I'd like to recreate it using 2-inch squares instead of 2.5 inch pieces. I have a rubbermaid box full of 2.5 inch fabs, cut from my stash long ago. I'd have to trim them down and I'd like to sew them on my treadle which was fondly named Elizabeth Redeye by its previous owner.

And...ladies...did you know that when you type a post you can add a "label" at the bottom (you'll see the space do do that at the bottom of the "create a post" page. You will notice that I've added labels of "shirting quilts, shirt quilt, shirt fabric for quilts". Click on "show all" and it will bring up all the labels previously used by those of us who post here. Use only "your" labels and not someone else's. That way, if you click on any of my labels, for instance, the WWQP will bring up a view of all my posts that include that particular label. Click on one of my labels and check it out.

I've had my coffee this morning, but not yet my oatmeal. Coffee makes me jabber. Whether in your ear or on this blog. The oatmeal is in the microwave...time to eat. And if you want to check out my WhiteStone blog (separate from the WWQP-BB, click here. Love to see you there.

My First Real Quilt from a Real Quilt Book Pattern

Two years ago we added a twin guest bed in my sewing room. This week I pulled a summer weight quilt from the closet, one which I haven't used for such a long time. I don't know why I haven't, for it is one of my favorites. (Don't forget, you can click on the photo for closer views.)

Oh, it's not beautiful in the sense of today's fantastic fabrics and patterns, but I love its simplicity.

I began quilting in the 1970s and the very first Q book that I purchased was Ruby McKim's 101 Patchwork Patterns, originally published by McKim's Studios in 1931. The pattern was simple and the method was to trace the pieces onto cardbord templates. I followed her instructions to a T including her suggestion for colors as I wanted my quilt to look vintage.

If I remember correctly I used flannel for the batt. Also the background was unbleached muslin (as McKim suggested) and you know how wrinkly that gets. So if you click on the quilt you can see the hand quilting doesn't really show up well. There is no pouf from the flannel. And the muslin wrinkles. Still...the quilt is extremely lightweight and perfect for summertime.

The pattern is Jacob's ladder. And you can read more about why I love this quilt on my own blog. (click) You may have to scroll down to the post for May 5.

BTW, Ruby Short McKim's granddaughter has a website where you can view and order many of Ruby's patterns. Go there and browse around, just for the fun of it. The website is called McKim Studios and can be found at http://www.mckimstudios.com/.


WhiteStone
aka JudyPete

Quilt A ad Quilt B

I'm posting photos of two different shirt quilts. Quilt A was machine quilted and was completed a couple years ago. I'm working on Quilt B now and am hand quilting. Yes, yes, I've been working on Quilt B for a century now. Well, maybe not a hundred years, but it seems like it.

Both are made from fabrics from selected men's shirts. It's interesting to see the subtle difference in color due to the different shirts in my stash when I made the second. And after seeing them side by side I remember that on Quilt A the blocks were all constructed with Red crosses at the center of each block. It made for a more consistent and yet scrappy look than I achieved with Quilt B.

Both are what I call nap size. Perfect for a snuggle on the sofa or as an extra throw on the bed.

My quilting seems to have slowed down over the past couple of years. Quilt B is the main project right now and I'm intent upon staying with it so that it will be completed before long. I hope all of you have some winter quilt project to keep you busy.

1930s quilt kits

Today DD gave me a treasure -- a 1930s catalog by John C. Michael Co., Chicago, Illinois. The 51 page booklet describes pre-cut quilt patches for various popular quilt patterns of that era. Item No. 28 is a Grandmother's Flower Garden. I quote..."It is composed of appximatelly 3600 hexagon patches which make 72 different blocks of flowered prints and plain color with a row ofwhite around each colored center and dividing patches and border of green......the finished quilt top measures 68x90, straight at the top and bottom and the scalloped edges on the sides..." And, Quilters, get this! The total price is $5.00 post paid. If that seems a little steep, the quilter could buddy up with friends to combine orders for a 10 percent discount on all orders of $10 or over shipped aa one time to one address. (Click on the photo for a larger view.)

The back of the booklet features a photo of John C. Michael and his seven sons. The fellow had a sense of humor...the page is entitled "Seven (sons) Straight: And Not a Quilter."

Neither John C. nor his sons were quilters but I'll bet a ton of quilts were produced from their "cut-to-size quilt patches".

JudyPete

Shirt Quilts

Hi, Laura, Welcome to the "Shirt Quilts" section of the quilting community. LOL. You asked about mixing shirt fabrics with fabrics from your stash. Here are my thoughts...

1) In my own experience, when considering shirts, I select only those made of 100 percent cotton and preferably from a nice grade of cotton, fabrics with a good (high) thread count. Some cotton shirts are made with rather flimsy thread count and the fabric is thin, especially those of lighter colors.

2) I never use poly/cotton blends. I find that poly/cottons get flimsier with each washing. They get limp with time. If you love a good quality cotton fabric, you will not like the poly/cottons. Unless, of course, the shirts hold sentimental value for you. In that case, disregard this statement. LOL.

3) Yes, by all means, feel free to mix your shirt cottons with fabrics from your quilt store. In the two photos above, one quilt is made entirely with shirt fabs. The quilt in the first photo is a mixture. Both have held up well to repeated washes and slight drying in the dryer.

I'm getting so bad about my addiction to shirt fabrics that I browse the men's shirt section in better department stores, pre-viewing next year's yard sale shirts. LOL.

Make up a few blocks and send us a pic here on the BB!

JudyPete

Alex Anderson's Postage Stamp Basket block

Isn't this Postage Stamp Basket a cool pattern? The finished basket block is 4.5 inches square.

Several years ago I watched Alex Anderson demonstrate this block on Simply Quilts. I loved the block and years ago I made a small quilt using her pattern.

Yesterday I wanted to see how this plaid fabric would look as a basket. Wouldn't it be cool to have a Plaid Basket Quilt? Blue plaids! Red plaids! Black and green plaids!

You can find the instructions by Alex at this site (you may have to copy and paste).

http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/cr_quilting_blocks/article/

JudyPete

Finally Finished

Some of you have seen the first few blocks of this shirt quilt. Just finished the top today so am posting a photo. I have a gazillion leftover shirt fabrics and the natural bent of any quilter is to make yet another quilt. LOL. I'm done with this pattern, though ... tired of it.

This is a nap size quilt, just right for the sofa this winter. If I ever get it quilted, that is. I plan to use a thin cotton batt, baste it, and then will quilt it on my old Singer 15-91, one of those 1940s-50s black machines that is still going strong. I've used this machine to free-motion and stipple many, many quilts, including several that were queen size.

JudyPete