Eight Years of The Joy of Quilting

As October draws to a close, I am reminded of the start of my quilting journey in October 2010. It had its beginnings in 1982, when I had just been diagnosed with liver cancer (it turned out to be another type of liver issue, and I am still alive and healthy!!), and I wanted to experience as much of life as I possibly could. My Granny had been a quilter, I still have half a dozen or so of her hand-quilted quilts, so I decided I wanted to learn to quilt and signed up for a hand quilting class in Plano, TX. I learned to hand-piece each cut-with-scissors piece as well as hand-quilt the block. Sadly I no longer have that block, but I remember the rust, blue, and cream colors of the fabric. My children were 5 and 10, and I had to wait until my husband got home to drive to the night class, about a 15 mile drive from where we lived at the time in Richardson, TX. I remember driving to class at night blasting Michael McDonald songs - lol!

My sweet Mom at her 96th birthday party

It was October 2010 before I did anything else with quilting. My Mom passed away in September at age 98, after living with us for eight years, and I found myself with a lot of time on my hands. I decided to take a basic quilting class at Oklahoma Quilt Works in Oklahoma City. I made a 4-block wall hanging featuring four traditional blocks. The teacher was a stickler on "points", and I sewed and picked apart blocks until mine were perfect! I finished the four blocks, but it was a long time before I put the wall hanging together and quilted it. It ultimately became a Christmas table topper in 2014.

I still love the fabrics I chose in the Oklahoma City quilt shop - all from Basic Grey Fruitcake.

I know Mom and Granny would be thrilled that I finally picked up the quilting bug! It was one of the best decisions I ever made. You can read more in depth about my quilting journey and the table topper history here.

You can see quilts I have finished, as well as other projects, in the tabs below my blog heading.

OMG October Finish - Herringbone Baby Quilt Replacement

My One Monthly Goal finish for October is the repeat of a baby quilt I first did in 2017. You can read about the original post here and the reason for the repeat here, but basically the owner lost her baby quilt and wanted a replacement.

The original quilt looks very similar to the replacement, as you can see from the two pictures below. The difference in the blues is simply due to different lighting - cloudy in one and sunny in the other.

Original 2017 quilt

2018 replacement quilt

I was unable to find a few of the original fabrics, but I actually like the new
quilt fabrics just as well as the originals. I hope the owner does too!

I did more quilting on this one. I started with "in the ditch" quilting
and as always was amazed at how much easier it looks than it is to do. Then
I added a criss-cross pattern, which gave the quilt more texture.

The binding was the same fabric I used as part of the pieced back.

Fabrics used:

Blocks:
Serenity by Amy Ellis for Moda
Meow or Never Tomcat Grey, by Erin Michael for Moda
White with multi-colored mini triangles and light aqua with white polka dot, both from Hobby Lobby
Grunge in Cream (I think - lost the label!), by Sweetwater for Moda

Backing: Meow or Never Playthings in milk, by Erin Michael for Moda

Binding: Light aqua with white polka dots from Hobby Lobby

I am linking to Elm Street Quilts October OMG October Finish.

Antique Quilt Revival

This morning we visited an antique store near our town, and I found this treasure. It was folded and stuffed into a small box and labeled "$25.00". I had my husband and sister-in-law hold it up while I inspected it, and although there were several tears and frays, I found no major damage. I've long wanted to restore an old quilt, and at that price, what did I have to lose?

The quilt measures approximately 68" X 84". Although the quilting is sporadic and uneven, it is hand quilted, generally in a diagonal pattern. The blocks are strip pieced, about 7" by 10". The binding appears to be a "fold-over" of the backing, and the two vertical sides have a wide border of green print. I'm already thinking I might cut off part of the green print and use it for the top and bottom to make an all-around border. The backing really needs to be replaced, but I don't want to undo all the former owner's hand quilting!

I wish I had the history of this quilt, as I am already very attached to it. There is a slight perfume-y scent to it, no mildew or "old" smell at all. There are several good articles online about restoration, and I may take it to my LQS for advice.

The kitties love it already.

If you have any advice about repairing old quilts, please share it!

OMG for October - Herringbone Baby Quilt Repeat

This month I'm working on a "repeat" quilt. This quilt was first made in May 2017, when my great niece asked me to make a baby quilt to gift to a friend. However, her friend recently lost the quilt while she was visiting a zoo! My great niece said her friend was heartbroken and asked if I could attempt to recreate it. Fortunately I still had some of the original fabrics, so away I went!

As I described in this post, I used the tutorial by Jenny of Missouri Star Quilt Company and made HSTs galore. I had to change a few fabrics, but overall the colors and placement will be as true to the original as I can get.

Here is the original quilt. Now that I've sewn the HSTs together in strips, I am ready to sew the strips together. I keep getting interrupted by life! But I intend to finish this quilt in the next 10 days (fingers crossed), so I can move on to Christmas sewing!

To challenge myself, I am linking to Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal.