Quilt Restoration - My ongoing project

Do you have any projects that you've been wanting to start, but have been languishing in a closet or cupboard still waiting?

I've had one of those projects that I've finally started after many, many years of waiting. Below is a scan of a photo of the originally tied quilt that I'm currently restoring. My husband and son are holding it up, and I wanted a photo of the "before" quilt.

 

I believe the quilt may have been made by my Great Aunt Agnes, my maternal grandmother's oldest sister, who was born in 1886. The fabrics are vintage turn of the century. My plan was, and is now in motion, to remove the ties, and replace the fabrics which are falling apart, or have holes in them, with vintage fabrics from the same era.

So, about a month ago, I began replacing some of the blocks or pieces in the quilt. I had already removed the ties and laundered the top. There was a time when I was seriously contemplating becoming a quilt appraiser, and I had done a lot of research into the quilts and fabrics of different time periods. Along with that research, I had purchased some vintage fabrics for research purposes. I decided to go ahead and use those turn of the century (1890-1910) fabrics I had collected for the quilt repair.

If the entire block needs to be replaced, I remove the stitching around the block. And luckily the quilt is hand pieced, which makes the removal fairly easy:

 

Next, I press the seam allowance under, using my Clover mini iron:

After pressing, I roughly measure the area for an approximate block size. The stitching and assembly of the quilt is very primitive, so the blocks are never quite square, but the blocks are about 7" finished.

I use my vintage fabric scraps to piece together a 7 1/2" unfinished "Economy Patch" block. This quilt top is comprised of the typical turn of the century fabrics in cadet blues, indigoes, blacks, scarlet and turkey reds, pinks, shirtings, plaids, and even a Garibaldi print.

After piecing my block, I use a Chacoliner to mark a temporary 1/4" seam allowance on the block:

I pin the pressed edges of the quilt top, where the original block was removed, onto the new quilt block, centering the block as best I can. Typically one side is 7" finished, while the other side is maybe 6 1/2" or 6 3/4".

 

I then applique the top edges to the new block. 

Luckily some blocks only need the center square replaced:

As I was working on replacing blocks and patches, I realized that there were more that needed replacing than I originally thought. I learned that holding the top up to the light revealed holes that weren't readily apparent without that light source. I realized that I was going to need more vintage fabrics for the repair. Luckily, I was able to order some shirtings, and pinks from a vendor on Etsy. Most of these fabrics I purchased were obviously pieces from formerly tied quilt tops, which is fine, but I needed to, again, use the light to reveal holes. Many of the holes were from the "ties" that were removed. For the fabric pieces, I laid each piece on my lightbox, and on the wrong side of the fabric, I drew around each hole with a pencil. That way I knew the areas of the fabric to avoid when cutting my pieces.

Here was the replacement block I made today:

And here are some replacement blocks already added to the quilt top:

My plan once I've finished with the replacements, is to hand quilt the quilt. By the way, I love the shirting print that was used for the setting squares and triangles and border. I liked it so much, I reproduced the print, and it's available in my Spoonflower shop. I changed it up a bit, by adding an antiqued ground to the print:

I'm going to use this print for the setting squares in a simple little nine patch quilt I've started.

In other news, I've started a shop on Etsy. So far, I've just added PDF patterns to the Etsy shop, while there is much more on my website. Here is a new little cross stitch pattern I just added to Etsy:

Until next time!

Martha

Basket of Blooms Punch Needle - Two Colorways, Two Sizes

Just released, my newest punch needle pattern, Basket of Blooms, has two colorways included, as well as two sizes for each colorway. When I designed the pattern, I couldn't decide which colorway, so I decided to just make both. I made the larger sized version (9" x 12") with red and green on a black background:

Basket of Blooms Punch Needle

I made the smaller version, with a size of 6" x 7 3/4", in the lighter colorway, with the shades of red and green to emulate the colors of a faded antique hooked rug:

Basket of Blooms Punch Needle

Both of the Basket of Blooms tapestries are punched entirely using the beautifully variegated Valdani threads.

For the larger Basket of Blooms, I needed a frame instead of a hoop. At first I purchased carding strips and made my own, but I wasn't happy with it. After using it for awhile, I decided to purchase this beautifully handcrafted 18" x 18" frame on Etsy, from the shop Beecreekltd:

I added the handle so that I could turn the frame with ease, as well as pick it up to move it around. Those carding strips can be sharp! A second handle on an adjacent side would have been even better, but at the time, I was anxious to get my tapestry completed.

When punching the design, I place the frame on a low, plastic top table. I can turn the frame around easily, as it just slides on the plastic, and I don't have to worry about harming a different surface, such as wood.

The pattern is available as a paper pattern mailed to you, or as a PDF download.

 

Until next time!

Martha

Rolling Star Quilt Pattern

When making quilts, I can really bounce around from making "easy to piece" blocks, such as the simple four patch, shown here in my quilt entitled "Practice"

to blocks that are a bit more intricate, such as the Georgetown Circle block, shown here in my quilt of the same name:

Georgetown Circle

I wanted to make a small quilt made with some fabrics I designed, and when I found the rolling star block in my Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns book by Barbara Brackman, I thought it would be a fun block to piece as a 6" block. And it was!

 

And here is the little quilt I simply call the "Rolling Star Quilt", with little stars in the sashing:

Rolling Star Quilt

 

 

I had so much fun making the blocks, in fact, that I made another quilt just like it, except in a pink dominant colorway:

Rolling Star Quilt

I've just finished the pattern, and have it up on my website. My pattern includes instructions to make the rolling star block either by hand , or by machine. I've done both, and each method is fun in it's own way!

Rolling Star Quilt Pattern

 

All of the fabrics in both quilts are fabrics that I've designed and can be found in my shop on Spoonflower. 

The pattern is available as both a printed pattern mailed to you, or as a downloadable PDF.

That's all for now! I'm still trying to play catch up, and have more patterns to prepare.

Until next time!

Martha

 

Gooseberry Hill - A New Quilt Pattern

Hello Everyone!

It's been awhile, but unfortunately, some family matters have slowed me down dramatically since mid-July.

However, I'm finally able to release my newest pattern, Gooseberry Hill! It's now available on my website, and you can choose between a paper pattern, mailed to you, or an instant PDF download. The paper pattern is 17 pages, 6 of which are color. The PDF download is 19 pages, with 8 color pages.

Gooseberry Hill

 

The little gooseberries in the appliqué block are 11/32” in diameter (that’s just a little larger than ¼”). In the past, when I’ve appliquéd circles that small or smaller, such as the eye on a bird, I’ve turned the edges using needle turn appliqué. That worked well when the little circle was an isolated shape. But since each of the four stems in the Gooseberry Hill block has 28 berries, I wanted them to be uniform. My typical technique for preparing the pre–turned edges for circles wasn’t working for these small berries, so out of necessity I came up with a new way of preparing these tiny berries with a turned edge.

I’ve included the instructions for this new technique in the pattern instructions for Gooseberry Hill. I hand pieced the LeMoyne stars for the quilt, however the instructions are for machine piecing, which I've found seems to be the preferred method for the majority of quilters!

Gooseberry Hill was made using fabrics I designed that can be found on the print-on-demand fabric site, Spoonflower:

And I've also been designing more prints for my Spoonflower shop. This past month I've been concentrating on geometrics. Namely, ticking stripes and checks. Big checks, medium checks and micro checks. Some of the prints are scaled specifically for quilts or apparel, and others for home decor. I wanted some stripes that had the look of grain sacks for table runners, and here are two stripes that I've designed for Fall - orange and black and black and orange:

I have the fabric printed on linen/cotton canvas, and I can't wait to get these stitched up for my table. Just some simple turned edges on all four sides, and voila! I'm done!

Until next time!

Martha

New Pattern!

Hello friends!

I have a wool applique pattern out called "Wildflower Wishes". It's a small sampler comprised of six floral blocks and rectangles and two panels with the verse, "May all your Weeds be Wildflowers". I've included detailed wool applique marking and preparation instructions, as well as full scale applique placement diagrams.

You can find the pattern on my website as either a paper pattern mailed to you, or an instant PDF pattern download.

I've also included instructions in the pattern to make a different version of the quilt, omitting the verse:

On another note, I'm so thrilled that my quilt, "Berries in the Sun" was awarded 2nd place in the April, 2023 Paducah American Quilter's Society Quilt Show and Contest! I have chronicled my progress on this quilt several times on the blog over the years. I finally finished it last year!

I have quite a few more patterns left to write, so I'll post those as I finish them. I am so far behind after our move, but I'm determined to catch up!

Until next time!

Martha

Riverboat Toile de Jouy

Sometime towards the end of last year, after taking Barbel Dressler's Skillshare class on designing a Toile de Jouy fabric pattern, I was inspired to design a pattern based on riverboats (steamboats) in America in the 19th century. It's fun for me to integrate historical topics in my work, especially topics related to the westward migration in America's 19th century. Maybe it's because most of my ancestors were part of that migration, settling in the Midwest in the late 1800's. At my Grandmother's funeral, one of my mother's cousins remarked that she had the wagon seat from the covered wagon which transported her grandparents to Kansas (that would be my great-great grandparents). How cool is that?

I had so much fun doing the research for my drawings to incorporate into my toile pattern. Just as an example of how important and prevalent were the steamboats in 19th Century America, here are two images courtesy of the Library of Congress - paintings showing the traffic jam of steamboats along the Mississippi shore of St. Louis, Missouri, one dated 1859, and the other 1874.

 

St. Louis 1859

St. Louis 1874

Below is my Riverboat Toile de Jouy, where you'll see riverboats steaming upon the rivers surrounded by bluffs and small towns. Pilot wheels are scattered throughout. The oxen on one of the bluffs are waiting to be put to work pulling some wagon or plow. And the young straw hat-wearing, Tom-Sawyer-like boy, is waving goodbye to a steamboat as it sails away up the river.

Riverboat Toile de Jouy

Here, I have it paired with another one of my new patterns, a stripe reminiscent of patterns and colors of the late nineteenth century:

I've just added these two prints, and more, to my Spoonflower shop, which you can access by clicking https://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/wagons_west_designs

You'll see the Riverboat Toile in several other colorways, some of which are tonal, great for backgrounds. And the stripe is currently offered in four colorways, although I plan to add more. I love stripes!

Until next time!

Martha

 

Citation:

A.    Janicke & Co. (ca. 1859) Our city, St. Louis, Mo. / lith. by A. Janicke & Co., St. Louis. Saint Louis United States Missouri, ca. 1859. [Publiched sic by Hagen & Pfau at the Anzeiger des Westens] [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/94513619/.

 

Currier & Ives & Parsons & Atwater. (ca. 1874) The city of St. Louis / sketched & drawn on stone by Parsons & Atwater. Saint Louis United States Missouri, ca. 1874. New York: Published by Currier & Ives. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/90716009/.