Bricks Series Returns - #8 In Progress

Does this look familiar?
If you've read my posts over the last few years you've seen this top.

Click Here to see the first post on the Bricks Project

I am taking up the Bricks Project again. I've  been on hiatus from this for too long. I had to switch gears when a few other projects took priority. . . but I'm back.

I still want the answer to the question I asked in  2011:

 "How many small quilts could I make out of this one top?"

See the first 6 small quilts here
And #7 here 

I once swore that I would never make a hexagon quilt but you know what they say, "Never say never!"

For # 8 in the series,  I've decided to experience the technique of English paper piecing - the old fashioned way; trace and cut out my own papers. I know you can order them pre-cut but part of why I do these small quilts is to learn, experience and appreciate the way things were done before we had so many 'helps' on the market.




For paper I am using the little annoying inserts that fall out of magazines...a good weight I think for cutting the hexagons and making them removable.

After tracing and cutting the first few one at a time, (duh) I decided to staple 4 papers together, draw as many hexagons as possible on the top sheet and staple the center of each one enabling me to cut out four at a time.
Generous friend, Dawn (Collector with a Needle), gave me the metal template for tracing, (okay, I'm not a total purist), and she gave me a quick demo on basting the fabric to the paper. She has a lot of experience with hexies.

I did two the first night and my thumb joint hurt! Yes, after just TWO! I was having second thoughts about this.




Today it went more smoothly.  I tried using a small applique pin to hold the fabric to the paper and another of those pins to hold down the starting fold. That helped keep things from slipping.








I'm using up old spools of thread to baste. I don't go through the paper so once I've joined each hex on all sides I will remove those papers and re-use them.

Here's my growing pile:

My new question: 

"Will I ever 'use up' all the fabric gleaned from that c. 1910 top?"

Doll Quilts Finished

#3 Triangles
15" x 19.5"

I've finished two more little quilts. They are the 3rd and 4th in my 'series' of doll quilts being made from a vintage 'Bricks' top (shown below). Both are hand quilted.

#4 Four Patch
16" x 17.5"

I use only vintage fabrics from this top in creating the doll sized tops. I use other vintage fabric from my collection for backing and binding when I have it. The claret binding on the triangles is vintage but I used a period shirting reproduction for the binding on the 4 Patch. (both thanks to the generosity of AZ pal, Lynn)

poor construction - not 'quiltable' as is

If you've been reading my blog you will be familiar with this project but since it gets to be a long time between posts here again are the first two in the Bricks Series:

#1 Tumbler

#2 Bricks
Homage to the original top!

I love to study old quilts and note the different ways things are done so I consciously use a variety of techniques in my doll quilts just for fun. 

ie: 

#1 is a charm quilt - each shape a different fabric - and is hand pieced.

#2 I brought the backing to the front to finish the edge, a finish seen on many old quilts but not common today. 

Numerous past blogs give more details on each quilt -You can use the Search box or drop down of each month to read those.

I'm planning Log Cabin and Rail Fence for #'s 5 and 6. 

Next: "Hand" quilt update

Two Tops Done; #3 and #4

I was really in need of 'machine' time so I got out my shoe box full of rectangles and odds and ends that I had removed from a vintage top. I've written about that process and shown the first two small quilts I have made so far in a series of blogs. ( the first one is  here)
 I was eager to continue in the 'series'.

I had decided to do a checkerboard next but as I looked over my leftover pieces I realized that cutting 3" squares would use them most advantageously. That was bigger than I wanted for the checkerboard so that's how I ended up making two tops at once!

Wanting to keep to a smaller scale for these little quilts I cut 3" squares and stitched down the diagonal making two identical triangle squares.

This one is very 'orderly'

I arranged them on my design wall and moved them to the machine on my fleece covered plastic tray.











For the checkerboard I cut  2.25" squares from the original rectangles, leaving ends large enough to use for quilt #5 and maybe #6! I decided to make 4 patch units and join them rather than just arrange the squares at random.

This vintage quilt of mine is constructed that way and I think it is interesting.

In my doll quilt you can see a hint of organization but it's random enough not to be predictable. Then I added a single row of squares down the right just to throw it off a bit more. Do you see the 4 patches?

I admire the randomness seen in so many vintage quilts. Working with a limited group of fabrics, as I am for this series, requires you to make choices you may not make if you have unlimited fabric to choose from. In my opinion this makes for an interesting quilt that invites you to look at it a bit longer.

Vintage doll quilts

Checkerboard - 4  patch  construction

Triangles - random setting

I've chosen the backing for each top and will prepare then for hand quilting over the winter. I like having small projects to work on.

The stash created from the original top IS slowly going down - I have just these two stacks and a bag of smaller strips and odd shapes left.

.

Now to get on with some holiday sewing!

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Little 'Bricks' ....Charming?

15" x 19.5"

I just finished the second small quilt in a series I'm doing using the rectangles from a c. 1910 top that I took apart some time ago.
(To see the top and that first post click HERE )

The bricks making up the center section are each different....and each of the blue border bricks is different from the other bricks in the border but are repeats of some of the central blues.....clear as mud?
So I am still calling it a charm quilt....with some qualifications!

I am trying, at this point, to be a purist about using only fabrics from this particular top in this series.

I had a hard time deciding how to join the layers.
I always think I'll do a quick finish with machine quilting on these little ones but when it comes down to it, I just don't want to!
I tried tying it with perle cotton.....didn't like that. Tried quilting a few rows vertically in the ditch...didn't like that. I wanted to maintain a vertical feel so I ruled out curvy things like an overall fan for this one. Still not happy, I started going through books and pictures on-line to see how other brick quilts were quilted and decided on this big elongated "X" and then two parallel rows for the border.



I finished the edge by turning the tiny pink woven gingham backing (also vintage but not sure how early) to the front in a very narrow hem.





To do this you cannot quilt right up to the edge because you need to fold the backing out of the way to trim the top and batting only.

Then bring the back out fully and trim depending on how wide a hem you want. For this quilt I trimmed it to 1/2", folded the raw edge halfway and then to the front.

I spend a lot of time making decisions on even the smallest project but the bottom line is, I'm doing this for fun, I want to like what I end up with...so I enjoy taking whatever time that process takes.


Now....I need to get back to finishing two other projects....but I AM thinking of what #3 should be.

To see quilt #1 in this series click HERE

A Rippin' Good Time - Part I "The Find"

Here’s what I’m currently doing instead of the things I should be doing. Ripping. I got this top recently and it just made me smile for a number of reasons.  One, and this is important, it is loaded with fabrics from my current favorite time period; the turn of the 20^th century  c.1890-1915. There are tons of indigo and cadet blue prints, shirtings, stripes, plaids and chambrays with a few blacks and clarets (burgundy) thrown in. Two, the price was right (also important). And three, being just a top I could easily examine the construction at which point the smile graduated to a quiet giggle.

 It appears to have been pieced by hand originally, at least in part, with what I would describe as string.  

This close-up shows regular sewing thread on the left.

Then someone with a sewing machine ---Hallejulah!- (albeit one with a tension problem) must have thought securing it would be wise so……….. whirrrrrrrr. Off she zipped – in the vicinity, at least, of the existing hand-pieced seamlines.



 A closer look at the accuracy of cutting the rectangles reveals a casual approach – a refreshing lack of concern for perfection. Seam allowances? She did NOT have a quarter inch foot – and what's more....she didn’t care! They range from non-existent to ¾”. Perfection is just boring, anyway.  

This is the only hole but numerous additional problems can be seen which may explain the top never becoming a bona fide quilt!  








When the pieces you are trying to sew togegther are not the same size, the clever seamstress just takes a tuck and honestly, there really is less bulk when the seams don't come together at the same in the same intersection.

At any rate, this is a quilt top I can love. I get very excited about ripping. This one presents a real challenge, however, with at least two rows of stitching; one of thread the thickness of wrapping string and the other by machine at 20 stitches per inch! But I'm ready to have some fun with this top. I have taken a three row section off of one end which will make it easier to work with. 

Let the ripping begin!

Coming soon: Part II  " The Process"