Doll Swap Quilt--Indiana Crossings

Hi Everyone,

Last year I participated in the reproduction doll quilt swap hosted by Lori at Humble Quilts.  So when she announced that she was doing another, I eagerly signed up.  The rules are that it cannot be larger than 24" on a side (can be square or rectangle,) and has to be made with reproduction fabrics, prior to the 1920s.

I decided that I would try to replicate some or part of a real antique quilt and since I needed to start my search for a quilt somewhere, I chose to search for Indiana antique quilts, since Indiana is my new, adopted state.  I stumbled across this one, found here.

It's in my favorite colors!  And I love to make flying geese.  Lets look a bit closer.

And even closer.

That's a bit better--although I should have cropped the pictures maybe--but you get the idea.

I decided to make a piece of the quilt--pretty much as shown in the photo just above.  To make it, I needed a LeMoyne star block for the center and then lots of flying geese.

I realized that I own a Rapid Fire LeMoyne Star ruler, so I got it out and made the smallest one I could.  I then made the smallest flying geese I could with the Bloc Loc rulers that I have.

I tried to see how they would fit together and I realized I needed a LeMoyne star block that was a half inch larger than the first one.  I went back to the ruler and was momentarily stymied by the fact that it increased only in inches.  I considered for a short time and then decided to attempt to make it only a half inch larger by imagining a line exactly between the ones on the ruler.  It worked great!  Next, I started making more geese.

I laid out the units I would need to make a square.  I didn't like it, though, it looked like a block from a larger quilt.   I decided to add more geese to stretch it into a rectangle, so I made more geese.

Yes, I had to use "Y" seams to construct the top, but they really aren't that scary!  I find that as long as I mark the quarter inch intersections, they go together easily.  The result was as you see above, but I wanted a border.

I decided to continue with the flying geese and use them as a border, so I made more geese.  I laid out several possibilities and decided that I wanted each border to have the geese pointing to the center, so I would need an even amount on both the top/bottom and the sides.  Like this:

Of course, the center wasn't the right measurements for the border, so I had to add some skinny strips all around to "float" the center and bring it to the right measurments.  I sewed geese together to form the side borders and discovered I needed more, so I made more geese.

My next dilema was the corner squares.  Should they be navy or cream?  I thought they should be navy, since in the antique quilt, there are navy squares that appear where the geese meet, however on my smaller version, they just "boxed" the center too much.  I loved the inspiration quilt as it was so "airy" and "unconfined"  and it didn't have a heavy border surrounding it.  So in the end, I chose cream for the corner squares.

Last year, I designed a quilt for the swap and ended up not sending it out,  (I sent another in its place.)  Why?  I had machine quilted it by meandering over the top.  I personally thought it detracted from the "antique" look that we are striving for.  I don't object to machine quilting at all--but to me, the meander didn't look authentic.  I considered my options for this top and decided to hand quilt it.

I haven't hand-quilted in a while, so I had to get back "in the groove."  I really enjoyed it, too!  I used to do lots of hand-quilting but haven't lately.  I wonder why?  I suppose because I'm doing lots of other hand work--needle turn applique and wool applique.

It didn't take too long and it was finished.  I bound it in red and washed it to get the lovely "crinkle."

It's going to be difficult to send this out!  I'm proud of the fact that I didn't use a pattern and I had the technical skills to see how it was constructed and then make my own version.  I need to do that more often!  I named it "Indiana Crossings" not just because the lines of geese criss-cross acosss the quilt, but also because Indiana is know as "the Crossroads of America" as so many freeways travel across our state.

This is the back--I love the texture of the hand-quilting!

I'll send this off later this week.  The deadline is May 1, but I know this has a long journey.  I can't wait to see the one that arrives in my mailbox!

Have a great day!

JoAnne

Doll Quilt Swap

Hi Everyone,

I recently participated in the Doll Quilt Swap that was organized by the lovely Lori at Humble Quilts.  The rules were that the fabric should be Civil War era, and no side of  the quilt should be longer than 24 inches.  Once everyone signed up, Lori told us who we were sending a quilt to.  It wasn't partners--I didn't send one to the same person that sent me one.

Once I was all "official," I began looking for inspiration and found quite a bit.  I set about beginning my project and was machine quilting it when I realized that I didn't like the look of the machine quilting--it wasn't "antique" looking to me.  I will write a post all about that quilt and discuss it.  Meanwhile, the deadline for the swap was approaching rapidly!  I looked through my stash of completed quilts and came across a great one.

This was a Monthly Mini Project from the Temecula Quilt Company that I had made and hand quilted.  I made up a label and sent it to Debra in Toronto,

Because of all the lovely brown fabrics in it, I was inspired to send along some chocolate to match!  Fort Wayne has a wonderful chocolate shop, DeBrands, so it was a local product.

Watching all of the swapped quilts being shared in blogland was so much fun!  Lori started a facebook page, Humble Quilts, so we could see even more of them.  They are all so fantastic!  Needless to say, I was so excited to receive my quilt in the mail.  Coincidentally, it came from another Debra--Debra in Ohio.  I eagerly opened the box and in my excitement, I failed to take pictures of the wrappings.  It was all red!  Once I opened it, I was thrilled to find this sweet little four-patch quilt.

It is just what I was hoping for--a quilt that looks like it was made 150 years ago.  The fabrics are wonderful and she also hand-quilted it with really teeny, tiny stitches!  I really love the navy-blue border.  She said that she nearly made a RWB one for me, but then went ahead with this.  It is going to go up on my "wall of smalls" as soon as I rearrange things to make room.

I love the antique-looking backing fabric, too.

The quilt was not the only item, though.  She also sent me a pincushion made with an antique salt-cellar.  I adore pincushions made with vintage items, so I was thrilled.  She did make this Red, White, and Blue.  Her teeny piecing is remarkable!  She even glammed it up with a pretty decorative pin.  

Thanks so much Lori for hosting such a fun swap.  I can't wait for the next one!

Have a great day,
JoAnne