Baby Quilt

Since we sold two quilts last week, I thought I should get to work replenishing our stock of baby gifts!  I made two new baby quilts -- here is one of them!  It is made with yellow and orange and blue squares with little elephants peeking through!

"Around the World"

This past summer, I was in a quilting shop in southern Vermont, where I saw tons of American quilt classics for sale.  This stunning and eye-catching quilt is entirely hand-stitched.  It is in the "Around the World" style, was made in the 1930s, and measures 91" X 96".

Here is a closeup on the center element --

Pink and Red and Purple Squares

I have been home less than a week -- and you can see that I've been busy!

This baby quilt is made up of pink and red and purple 4" squares and it has a soft flannel backing.

Striking Quilting Designs

When I was in Chicago recently, I visited the Chicago Cultural Center, which is housed in a stunning building originally built as a public library in late 19th century after the Great Fire.  Here I found these two quilts on display.  Both are made by African-American quilters.

The first is entitled "Overalls" and was pieced by Arbie Williams in 1991.  It was quilted by Irene Barkherd.  Arbie Williams was born in 1916 and grew up on Texas and Oklahoma farms.  The overalls or britches subject is quite striking.

This quilt is untitled and was made by Marie "Big Mama" Roseman, whose quilts have landscape themes.  Here we see "fields" of fabric.

Creating a Family Heirloom

We were recently commissioned to create a family heirloom from a set of handkerchiefs that belonged to the woman's grandmother.  This project created a few challenges since the handkerchiefs were all different sizes and colors, and because they are not made from sturdy 100% cotton fabric.

You can see from this picture how we solved the problem of size and color.  We chose handkerchiefs to go with three different colors of sashing and we trimmed them all to be 7 1/2" squares.

To solve the problem of the flimsy nature of handkerchief fabric, we ordered stabilizer from Joann on-line and used it to create a backing for the handkerchiefs.  Hopefully this will ensure the longevity of the quilt!

From this close-up, you can see that we created a center square from four monogrammed handkerchiefs with the letter "E" (the first initial from the grandmother's name).