'70's vintage quilt donation

 I received this quilt as a donation to the Guild Flea market sometime in the Spring.  It has a wonderful variety of applique and pieced blocks and it is wonderfully hand quilted!  It was constructed in the "potholder" style.  Each block is constructed and quilted individually and then they are all seamed together and the seams are covered with appliquéd sashing.  The quilt was all but finished except for one strip of sashing and the binding.  My friend Helen volunteered to finish the hand work and we agreed it would make a great donation to the CZU quilt give away.

It appears at least in part to be a commemorative quilt based on the lower left block which has a date and title.  It's hard to say if the 70's date is the starting date or simply a dedication of some sort.  There's no help looking at the fabrics for dating clues since there's only one pretty nondescript print and the rest of the fabrics are solids.   But I think the background fabric is a poly / cotton blend.   Which makes me think it probably was started in the 70's,  The batting is also a poly or poly blend.

Really beautiful hand work.  To bad the maker wasn't able to see it finished.

Happy Weekends to you all and stay Safe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

take care, CW

Final finish of 2020 and first finish of 2021 !

 I got this cute little baby quilt finished and in the mail to My Nephew and his wife on Monday.  They are expecting their first child in Feb.  The Shower tho' is on Sunday and I wanted to make sure it got there in time for the party.

I was pleased with the overall design.  Those animal motifs from Robert Kauffman were really fun to play with and work into the design. 

And as an added bonus I found this cute outfit to go with!

It's not often you can coordinate your quilt with your outfit!  

For my first finish of the year I dug deep into my back log of UFO's.

I started this quilt about 8 years ago.   

The only place to buy fabric near where I was living at the time was Walmart.

 The selection was pretty limited and some of the gray goods used to print upon are not best quality like you would expect in a quilting store.  But they had some FQ bundles with larger pieces of coordinating fabrics and I bought the set.

Have you ever had the experience of being both drawn to and repelled by color scheme at the same time?!

That was my experience when I finished the top.  Was it to loud, cluttered, busy?  I just could not identify what was not working so I put it away for a long time.

But since I've been working on making bed quilts for CZU I'm really trying to see the potential in some of my more seriously abandon UFO's.

This is a twin size so I thought maybe some young person might like the loud, bright busy ...whatever? 

So I started quilting it Monday after I finished the baby quilt and finished today!

I backed it with this scrappy Minky made with a whole variety of end pieces that I'd been saving for a kid quilt.  I figure if they get tired of the front they can always turn the quilt over to rest their eyes!

The patterns of the quilting on the back are pretty cool too!

I'm still not crazy about the front but I'm keeping my fingers crossed somebody is going to like it and take it home at the give-away.

It feels great to finish another ancient UFO!

Happy New Year !

Take care,  cw

Yarn dyed Flannel top done

 Got the borders put on this top over the weekend.  Measures 87" square.  This is one in a batch of quilts I hope to complete for the next quilt Give-Away for CZU fire victims.  I love these fabrics.  So soft and homey feeling.  I think it will make a good donation.

I hope you are all having wonderful Winter Holidays even with Covid adjustments!

Take care! cw

Next up in the Bed Quilt department

 I have been trolling through my (to many to count) UFOs for another project that I can easily finish for a CZU donation and I settled on this stack of Blocks.  I figured if I put every other block as a solid I only had to make 3 more blocks to make it Queen size!  And they looked like a fun bunch of Blocks!

These are actually 'Thank You' blocks I received for serving on my Local Guild Board a couple of years ago.   But they have been sitting unattended for awhile....

I thought this was the perfect time to get them put together and do a good deed.

Well I'm off to the races, that is;  Grocery shopping in the Holiday Season, ugh!

Have a great weekend!

Take care, cw

Crafty Wednesday

 

I made this potholder with my granddaughter at the end of Oct.  I thought the finger loom would be a good activity for her.  I remember making these kind of potholders when I was about her age (7).

We used strips of old cut up t-shirts rather than the commercial loops. It made it a little more difficult but Ari got through more than half of the weaving before she asked for help to finish it.

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I found this at the flea market a couple of years ago. 

What a hoot!

The old metal frames are definitely the best.

It was so much fun making the first one, when I got home from Indiana I made some more for Holiday gifts.

I really think they make the best potholder?!

And how many ways are there to use t-shirt scraps left over from t-shirt quilts?!

Well,  big pieces do make excellent rags...

Yesterday I found this at our local craft shop.

Klutz really does make nice craft kits / games of all kinds.  This one included a loom, some pretty colored cotton loops and this instruction book.  It was a bit pricey  ($20.) but I figured I could study the patterns in the book and then send it to my G-daughter for a holiday gift!

The colorful loops will probably be easier and a lot more fun for her to use.

Who knows maybe I'll make a bunch more and sew them together to make a rug!

Happy finger weaving!

take care, cw

Vintage quilt finds a new home!

 My friend Helen who is one of the coordinators of the distribution day for CZU quilts sent me this picture.  You can't see it because the fellow is wearing a mask but he's smiling from ear to ear!  Sandy H. over at My Material Creations was helping that day and she assisted this fellow in looking for a quilt to take home.  Sandy said when they got to the table where this quilt was he went straight to it!   He said 'it really made his day!' 

This quilt almost did not make it to the party!  It was donated to our local guild Flea Market a couple of years ago.  It's mostly all wool, tied, with a fairly worn flannel backing.  It's very heavy.  I had to wash it about 3 times to get the musty smell out of it.  

The last hour of our Flea Market everything is FREE (less to cleanup that way).  I was strolling around the Market that year to see what was left and there was this quilt.  Not wanting it to go away for free I snatched it up in hopes to find another way to sell it.  Due to my lack of energy it has been sitting in storage since then but when I was going through some of my vintage quilts looking for things to donate I got this quilt out.  I showed it to Helen and we both agreed it had a certain 'rustic charm'  and that's how it found a new home!

It's folded over.  It's twice the size showing.  

You just never know how quilts will connect with people.

I'm so glad it found a new home where it will be loved and enjoyed!

Happy Holidays!

Take Care!

Finishes !

 Back in Oct.  I shared the saga of this quilt top. (read about it here)  I decided to make it bigger and this is the final result.  It's one of three quilts I hope to finish to donate to the CZU quilt giveaway for people who lost their homes in the Santa Cruz Mountains fires in Aug.This top is currently on the quilt frame it measures about 88" square.  It's about half quilted.  I hope to finish it today or tomorrow.

I started this next quilt as a break from making all those green piano keys.  All the heart blocks were from my Orphan Block stash.

It turned out to be so much fun I finished it first and got it quilted and now it's being bound.

This is the biggest top I've quilted in a long time;  97" square!

That was a real work out!

I pieced the backing.  Talk about a Stash Buster!  6 Yards worth!!

The third quilt is a top I started several years ago.

It staled out when I decided to do some applique on the outer borders!

HAHAHA! 

I started this quilt because I wanted a Winter Flannel quilt for my own bed.  When I was searching around for my next CZU project I got this out and looked at it.  I even tried it out on my bed.  But it did not ring any bells for me so decided to finish it to donate to the CZU project..

I really love this colonial revival print but it did not work with my bedroom decor.

Here's the final top!  Luckily I had the companion fabric with the cross stitch alphabet print.  Adding the simple outer border was an easy finish to another UFO!!!!

Yipee!  I'm on a roll!!!

Happy and Healthy December to you all!!

Take care, cw