Hooray for May!

a new stack of secondhand shirts

I’m starting off this post with my most boring photo of a new stack of ‘old’ shirts that I gathered in my recent travels to Alberta. I’ve been collecting old shirts for about two years now but this spring I managed to score some great shirts at terrific prices, and therefore I’ve truly enhanced the growing selection. I have two quilt designs in mind and I’ve also been adding in some shirt pieces to current projects, creating a lovely mix with classic quilting prints.

Shirtings and Florals

The photo above is the perfect example of mixing the shirts in with quilting cottons and as you can see, they sit quite nicely together. In an earlier post I shared some of these blocks in progress and stated that I had made nine of each. The larger nine ended up sewn together to create a medallion center with a narrow striped border sewn around the exterior. I’m in the process of sewing up more of the other blocks in order to have a total of twenty to create the next round, bringing the quilt top up to 72″ x 72″, at which point I think I’ll be done. This was a fun exercise in working the shirts in with some flamboyant florals for an unexpected combination.

My Sweet Prairie on the longarm

Another quilt that included some random shirtings was “My Sweet Prairie Quilt” and it has just come off the longarm frame as of last night (the photo is a wee bit dull due to the fading light in the studio just around dusk). Although the photo isn’t the best, I was still very excited to share this one with you, as it signifies that I’m definitely back working in the studio every day now that the weather is more cooperative :o) I stayed a little later just to put the binding on this one and I’m hoping that by the time this weekend is over I’ll have the entire binding handsewn down and some proper photos to share with you. I’m planning to take this quilt with me to demonstrate the binding process at the Spring Fling Quilt Show this Saturday, but more on that later.

Plenty Piecemakers Historical Reproduction Quilt

Another exciting finish this week was finally getting my Paducah Nine Patch all sewn together and finally down off the large design wall after sitting up there all winter. I tried taking some photos outside on the clothesline, as it eventually finished much too large to fit on the wall by the time all 120 blocks were sewn together, but unfortunately it was just crazy windy outside yesterday. I’ll try again this weekend and share that quilt top with you next week. Now that the wall is empty, I can get some other projects worked out, including the final design for my Plenty Piecemakers Historical Reproduction Quilt that has been sitting on the sidelines for so long.

At first I was just going call it done with a floating edge and bind the quilt with a reproduction navy stripe, but for some odd reason I kept thinking it required a border of some sort but couldn’t work out exactly what was needed. This was one of those quilts that needed to age or rest and I’m certainly glad that I didn’t rush into finishing it too quickly. I had finally decided last spring to use that wonderful border fabric and initially intended to miter the corners for a beautiful effect. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough yardage to do that, as mitering requires so much more fabric on the corners, and so the quilt top had to rest again while I brainstormed new ideas. Well, this week the panic set in as Spring Fling is looming and we want to have a display of all the quilts we made during our year of historical quilt study, and how would it look if the instructor didn’t even have her quilt top finished?! Yikes!

As soon as I had the quilt top up on the design wall and did some quick measurements of the border fabric, I knew exactly what I had to do… and I am so pleased with how it all turned out. Obviously, I won’t have this one quilted in time for the show but a ‘flimsy’ is almost as good as a finished quilt. This one will be next in line for the longarm, but I’m so pleased to share it with you here.

If you’d like to see more amazing quilts, including reproductions, family heirlooms, and modern quilts, be sure to head down to the Plenty United Church on Main Street tomorrow, Saturday, May 5th, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for the Spring Fling Quilt Show and Sale. There will be some great home-based business’s featuring their wares and we will be serving a soup and sandwich lunch in the church basement as a fundraiser for the church and museum. Hope to see you there!

until next time, carol