A Favorite Journal Accompanied Me To Festival

Although some folks might think it odd ; I generally travel with two journals. One that is strictly my written (and sometimes illustrated) personal journal & one that I bring along for taking notes on things that catch my eye, observations, thoughts to develop for quilts or felted pieces - that sort of thing. For the Houston trip this was the little beauty that I used to capture those scattered thoughts, and to hold all of the information I needed for the trip. It's a lovely notebook that's available in two colorways from Exaclair. Called the Quo Vadis Robert Le Heros this journal definitely has a lovely European flair. I love the Clairfontaine paper - works great with just about any ink I use in it - including some watercolor washes. Here I am holding up this great journal in front of one of my more traditional quilts at the Houston Quilt Festival 2008.

The other two pieces that I had in the show were art quilts. This quilts, called "Butterflies & Cream" was in an exhibit called In The American Tradition. I can't think of a more quintessential traditional American Quilt pattern that these butterflies that were so popular during the last great depression. I bought the beginnings of these blocks as orphans from Ebay. There were certainly not enought to make the large quilt I wanted from them so I had to dig into my stash of vintage fabrics and construct the new-old butterflies to match the original blocks. Now, I can no longer remember which blocks I made and which were the ones I purchased. I used a bright cheerful yellow for the setting blocks. The batting is an 80/20 cotton batt and the backing is plush fleece. Warm, cheerful and traditional. This quilts is actually my hisband's. I was once offered $1200. for it, but he loved it so much that he "bought" it for that same amount so that we could keep it at home - ans till give me the money I needed at the time. Although I make a lot of art quilts now , it is traditional quilts that I always seem to return to. They brings me peace and make me happy - and there is nothing better to sleep under IMHO!

I think my lovely Quo Vadis journal goes quite well with my beautiful quilt ! Don't you agree?!

Vintage Quilts At The LaConner Quilt Museum

The second floor at the LaConner Quilt Musem was dedication to a vintage quilt collection. Perfect for me - since vintage quilts are favorites for me. The fan quilt was truly wonderful. The fan blocks were only about 5 inches and the background was a wonderful 30's warm yellow. It was in excellent condition.

I thought that this Sunbonnet Sue was especially fun all in red. Lots of cute details.

This excellently crafted DWR was made in , I think, 1987 .... it shows amazing skill.

The star quilt below was truly spectacular - thought the lighting left a bit to be desired. I was grateful that photography was allowed at all. This masterpiece was made in 1840 - and it too is in great conditions - just a few age apots and some wear near the center of the star. These quilts were a treat !

Oldies but Goodies

My mainland jaunt was exhausting yesterday. I got up late. Posting every day must be making some of friends check on me since I have gotten two calls this morning wondering if I was okay - since no new post was up yet! I have been thinking about what in the heck to write about - the end of the month of daily posts is approaching and new topics are getting harder to come up with. That being said, I like posting as often as I can come up with something to say - it keeps me on my toes! So y'all won't be off the hook at the end of the month!

I have not posted photos of too many of my older (i.e.within the last 5 years or so) quilts. Most of the quilts I made until 2003 were all bed sized .. and I continue to make bed sized quilts as well as art quilts and felted things! I like using my quilts and I like to give bed quilts as special gifts. The quilt in photo above is a full size quilt - made all in batiks with a lovely light wool batting. It was a speical quilt for me and I was so pleased to be able to give it to my friend's daughter for her 30th birthday. She seems to enjoy it-and best of all, she USES it - the best thanks of all !

Vintage Cheddar Quilt Top

Another little double sized treasure that I just had out for airing. The cheddar fabric in this top is still perfectly intact - but thinner than lots of the other cottons that were used. It appears that the nine-patches were all made of utility or clothing scraps. The top is all hand pieced. Other than the thinness of this one fabric the top is in very good condition and I love it's stark simplicity.

Another Vintage Treasure

Here is another quilt top that I have had out for an airing. It is beautifully hand stitched and double sized . My favorite colors, aside from all of the "ick" greens in the world are yellow, orange and red - so of course I had to have this one ! This was when I was working full time - so whims like this were more feasible then ! The fabrics are all in excellent condition and the stitches are all strong - there are a couple of small age spots but that's all. It's a cheerful piece. When I look at these vintage tops I really like to imagine what the person who made them was like. Young? Old? Adventurous or sedate ? Were the scraps from clothes - and if they were what did the clothes look like?

I take a pretty radical approach to these vintage pieces - and generally wash them when I get them. I have never had one fail to look better and seem to appreciate the sudsing and gentle care. I love these pieces - they always bring me lots of smiles.

Another Vintage Orphan Quilt

Here is another stunning 1930's orphan. I have a thing for 30's fabrics and quilts. They make me happy and I love the colors and scrappy looks. DH gave me this one some years ago. It is all hand pieced and the colors are still vibrant and the material is pristine and crisp with no fading anywhere. I have been debating how to proceed with this one for as many years as I have had it. I can, of course, leave it as is - a top - and a round top at that ! I can applique the entire edge to a backing and then quilt.....or I can "rectangularize" it and the quilt it. Somehow the "rectangularizing" option seems blasphemous to me though !

The International Quilt Study Center is having an exhibit that began on July 2nd. It is called "Recycling & Resourcefulness: Quilts of the 1930's" - I wish I could go to it - but it's in Lincoln, Nebraska. This group is a tremendous resource for those of us interested in quilt history and their web site has lots of excellent information.

Another Crazy Orphan Quilt

Now that we have at least a bit of good weather in my neck of the woods I am in the process of taking my "orphans" out for their yearly airing and refreshing. This Victorian Crazy Quilt is one of my pride and joys. Scott found it at an auction about 10 years and and presented it to me as a gift. It is is in almost pristine condition. I had it appraised not long after I got it. The embroidery thread is silk - and there are only a couple of pieces of leaded silk that are splitting. This is an unfinished top - beautifully sew. Even the back that shows the stitching is well done and neat. There are quite a few umbrellas in this quilt - you can see one of them in the second photo down. I wonder if this was a commonly used symbol? I had not seen any before. I enjoy taking my time and really looking at this quilt whenever I take it out - ideally I would like to get it framed in a two sided fashion - but the money for this project will take a while to save !

A Well Worn Orphan Finds a Home

A friend at work told me that she was going to toss this well used quilt - but wanted me to have a look at it first to see if I wanted it. YES ! It IS in very poor conditions and most all of the leaded silks have disintegrated but there is still a lot of wonder to this quilt. Many of the pieces of the beautiful velvets are still in great condition and the embroidery is still mostly bright and is fairly well executed. The two most prominent images are two large and well ornamented crosses. Funereal ? Simply Religious? The backing is a rosy wool twill that was most likely red at one time - there had been a red binding on it - that has long ago been worn off. It was tied with what appears to be a possible newer embroidery thread - all of the ties are still intact. A young woman who once worked in our office had used this quilt on her bed and given the quilt to my friend when she moved! It's origin is Wisconsin. Most of my friends know that I am always going to take an aging orphan quilt and that I treasure having them. To me, each quilt is a historic document. I love looking at them - even those that are in tatters can tell many tales.