Another Community quilt

I finish quilting another quilt for the exhibit "We're Still Here" at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History.  It is a great exhibit that highlights the struggles of Senior Citizens in our Community (( read more about it in the first post here.) 

There  more personal art work and faces in this one,   That proved to be more challenging I did not want to mess it up.  I tried to take the approach that less is more.  Here are some examples:
I thought this first one was amazing!

Well I'm not sure I did all the patches justice but I needed to get it Done.   I couldn't ponder each individual square for toooo long.  There are 180 - 6" patches.

It was fun but I'm glad it's Done!!!

Have a great week!

cheers, CW

Another Vintage Quilt

I have a few Date inscribed quilts in my Vintage collection,  this is one of the best!  It's a signature quilt from 186_ (last digit is unclear).    

It contains a wonderful array of 1800's fabrics that are generally in really good condition.

Every square has two fabrics;  no repeats.  And every square (except one or two blank) has a different name inscribed in it.   I'm no Hand Writing expert but the signatures seemed to be different enough, one from the other,  that I think they were all written by separate individuals .

This is A.D. Blodgett

Nellie Moulton

Some also have locations written with their names like this one!  There are 5 signatures from Randolph, VT.

Mrs. L. F. Walbridge,   Randolph, VT.

This is H. Tarbell.  

There are 4 signatures contributed by the "Tarbell" family that are printed in the same way.  That's probably because they each had their own "name" stamp.  These would have been personal, custom made metal stamps that could be inked and then pressed into cloth or paper.  They could be used as a substitute for a signature for use on personal items, like letters, hankies, clothes, etc.

There are 5 Blogetts signatures.

Carrie L. Blodgett

J.R. Tarbell

Ellen A. Blodgett, Rochester, VT.

Eltie M. Smith,  Concord, Mass.

The only block which is not a name which is located in the lower left corner  of the quilt is this one.  Perhaps Grandmother was signing in this way as the maker of the quilt?  You can also see the quilting in this picture quite well.  It's not super fancy but it is well quilted.

This is the dated Block.  Sadly it is very faded.  No doubt it has had more handling than the other blocks and thus the poor condition!?

But I think if you tilt the picture this way and that you can make out the year 186_ in the lower right corner.

I've always thought this would make an excellent research quilt for an AQSG's project.

But I've never gotten it together.  I guess I'm just not Scholar material, I'd rather be sewing than researching!

cheers, CW

Sampler top finished

These blocks were mostly generated in a Beginners Piecing class I taught last year.  I made to sets of blocks.  One was with French General fabrics for a more traditional look and the other was this set of blocks for a more Modern look.  I lost interest in the French General fabs fairly early on but I was intrigued by the possibilities of the Modern fabs so I kept making more blocks and this is the result.

I think it mostly works but I was going for asymmetry.  I might have gone a bit to far.  It's funny how you don't see certain things until you see a photo of it.  I think I might carry that bottom dark border all the way to the corner.  That might help contain the design a little better.

Oh well,  live and learn!

I'm still scratching away at my UFO's and getting things done.  That feels really good!!!

Have a great week!

Cheers, CW

Halloween Quilt Finished!

             Along with the I goal mentioned in my last post I also finished the Halloween Quilt                                                                      that I posted about (Before Halloween).

As I mentioned I dithered around with the backing, here's why. 

I found this super fun plush throw at Ross on Sale for $9.00.  I thought it was big enough but it was NOT!  Grrrrrr!

So I sat with it for about a week and finally decided I would just put some Minky on the sides to make it big enough.  The loft is different but they are both nice and soft and purple.  I'm OK with the look but when I touch it, it is so soft and yummy I know it was the right choice! 

I quilted the blocks in the same style as the I Spy quilt I finished in Sept.

There are so many fun fabrics in this quilt! 

I even got the binding put on before 'All Hallowed Eve'  thanks to my sewing machine!  Lately I've been cutting the bindings 2.5", folding, sewing to the front and then stitching in the ditch on the front.  It looks nice and tidy on the front....

 and not bad on the back either and it saves a Boat load of time!!!

Still haven't started anything new and I have another UFO in my sights for November!!

Have a great rest of your week!

Cheers, CW

Just in Time!

My goal for this week:  the next border for this one DONE!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!!!!

Cheers!  CW

Special Community Quilt

 I forgot that I had signed up to quilt this quilt for a special exhibit at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History.  Consequently not much UFO sewing last week! But quilting this quilt was a great experience.  The exhibit is called "We're Still Here" or " Segui'mos Aqui".  It is an exhibit to help focus the struggles of Seniors in our community through Art and Stories,  and suggestions on how we can help.

Our guild set up a table with fabric squares, glue sticks, markers and relevant fabric prints that people could use to design their own squares expressing some aspects of what community means to them.  Then our guild members helped sew everything down.  There will be 5 quilts total produced.  Various Long-armers in the community volunteered to quilt these quilts during the exhibition. This one that I quilted is #4.

Here's the label.  I think all of these quilts will be put into the permanent collection of the Museum.

I confess I had not been to the museum in several years but I went twice to see this exhibit and it was very inspiring.  Community work can be sad and challenging especially for groups like Seniors where there resources can be so limited.   But the museum staff did a great job of shedding light on the problems of Seniors without being maudlin.

I think visitors must have had a really good time with the block project because there were well over 500 squares made  (my guesstimate).

Here are some of the squares up close.

I did not always get the connections of image with words but I just tried to highlight and outline things.

Like I said,  not much UFO sewing last week but this project was a lot of fun.

This week my grand kids are here for a visit so I probably won't get much sewing done either but I'm having a great time with my grand kids!  

cheers,  CW

One Finished Finish and some Tops finished

I've kind of been balancing larger projects with smaller ones so this week I finished quilting and binding this baby quilt.  The genesis of this project was finding those cute flannel squares in the guild flea market.  Easy peasy, it will make a nice donation quilt.

I used this wonderful snoopy flannel for the backing.  It's really soft.  Perfect for a baby!

I also finished a few tops!  Some how putting on borders is a challenge for me so I have a lot of projects that are waiting for borders.  Hopefully I can get them quilted pretty quick now that they are finished!

I added the blue strips to the top and bottom and the yellow flower print (an old skirt) all the way around.  I thought it matched the vintage blocks pretty well.

 This quilt had a lot of structural problems starting with the piecing.   I wondered if it was even worth salvaging these orphan blocks they were so wonky and rather loosely hand pieced.  But I decided to put them together hoping that the quilting will help stabilize everything.  We shall see!

You might remember this next top from a post in Sept.  These were a whole set of orphan blocks given to me as part of a "Thank You" gift from my guild.  I was stunned that someone would part with a whole set of these beautiful blocks!  But I talked to the person who gave them to me and she said that she got them in a block swap and when she finely received her blocks they just didn't 'wow' her the way she had initially thought they would.  I think they are gorgeous!  And I'm really happy with the border.  I found both those fabrics in my stash!!

This last border finish is a pretty old UFO.  I think I started it 3 or 4 years ago.  Every year about this time I'd get it out and work on the blocks but this year I was determined to get it done before Halloween so we could enjoy it's seasonal design!  This one will get moved to the front of the line for quilting so hopefully it will be done soon!!!

Sooo many fun fabrics in this one.  My stash of Halloween fabric grew quite a bit while working on this project.  But I have another Halloween project that will hopefully put a dent in that.

Well that's all for now.  I hope to get some more "Finished Finishes" done by next week.  I have stayed true to my goal to not Start anything new!  It was hard.  I did fiddle around with a few stacks of fabric,  I didn't cut anything so that doesn't count, right?!

I hope you are all enjoying the Fall!  It's been really nice weather here!

cheers, CW