Another Quilt from the Past

A while ago, here to be exact, I shared a little about my desire to make Grandma's Country Album, a serial pattern from McCalls from way back in the 90s.  My first attempt was to make a pieced quilt that could have the "look" of the original, but of course, it didn't.  So I acknowledged the fact that I would need to learn to applique so I could make the coveted quilt.




Here is a picture of the pattern and sample.  What really made me want to make this was that Robert Callaham, the designer, had made it out of Thimbleberries fabrics, and at the time, they were my absolute favorite fabrics!

I taught myself how to hand-applique to make this.  I used freezer paper on the top of the fabric.  I frequently used a fabric glue stick to glue the raw edges under.  It worked okay.  Since then, I learned to do the back-basting method of applique and I enjoy that technique much more.  Once I got the top done, I hand-quilted it.  It was the last "large" quilt that I hand-quilted.

 

The border featured some dimensional/folded details.

A terribly lit photo of the back, but it shows the quilting.

Teeny, tiny grapes there in the middle.

 

The book block was my favorite.

There were several pieced blocks, which helped.  This block with the red flowers in the urn was the first I appliqued. 

 

 

Anyway, the point I want to make in showing this quilt is that if you want a quilt badly enough, you CAN learn the necessary technique to make it!  Yes, you CAN! 

The Story of an Old Quilt

Hi Everyone!

I know I've been a bit light on my blog posts this week.  My husband and I just got home from Colonial Williamsburg.  Please come back later this week as there was the most incredible exhibition of antique Baltimore Album quilts, and they allowed photos, so I will be sharing!

Today I am going to talk about a quilt I made long ago--way back in the late 90s.  Maybe 1998?  I was in the very first "edition" of the Thimbleberries club.  What sparked this post is that Kim, over at Kim's Big Quilting Adventure, blogged recently about making the quilt from that first year.



Here is her picture of the quilt.  When I was making it back in the 90s, McCalls Quilting had just had a hugely successful "serial" quilt in their magazine by Robert Callaham called "Grandma's Country Album."  I was in love with it, but at that time, I didn't applique.  Following on the success of the first quilt, Robert designed another quilt, and it was running in McCalls at the same time as I was starting Thimbleberries Club.

Here is a picture of it--you can sort of see it here.  Robert used Thimbleberries fabrics in both of these quilts.  I considered for a while and decided that maybe I could "redesign" some of the blocks from the Thimbleberries Club quilt to fit the shapes of the blocks in the Country Album II quilt.  There are 13 blocks in this quilt, so I had add something else, so I used a leaf block.  When I got all the blocks done, I cut hundreds of small squares to piece for lattice, just like shown in the picture.  I put the quilt together and hated it.  The pieced lattice worked in Robert's version because the blocks were appliqued.  Having the pieced lattice against pieced blocks did not work!  I thought about it and decided to use one fabric for the lattice.  I hated to waste all those small squares, though, so I used them for the border.  I really liked how it came out.

 

Here is my version!

 

 

I used to really love Thimbleberries fabrics, patterns, and BOMs, but after a while, I found the patterns to be a bit simplistic for me.  They are perfect for beginners!  I also am really ambivalent about make the exact same quilt as potentially hundreds of other people.  I love how this version is very unique!  I think I did one more year of Club and then I stopped.  Now I'm trying to "use up" all my Thimbleberries stash and haven't been buying any more.  Her pallette is just too brown and dark for me these days.  By the way, I did teach myself to applique so that I could make the first Grandma's Country Album.  Maybe I will show a picture of it at a later date.



I hope everyone has a great day!
JoAnne