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.

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Now to get on with some holiday sewing!

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Ripping Again!

Well, I'm back at it. I won this top at the AQSG silent auction in Charleston, SC, last month. Here's what it used to look like - it's a poor photo and from this distance it looks much better than it did in person, trust me!


It was poorly made in many ways but the squares are a nice size to do something with  (3.5" finished -give or take) and there are some great fabrics in it so....I started in.

Some people think I'm crazy. A friend watching me in wonder said, "Why don't you just cut it apart?"
That stopped me for a minute. I had never thought of that! But I went back to ripping. It just seems the right thing to do and preserves the most fabric.

Do you believe me now?

It was both hand and machine pieced and a real bear to rip out. On the hand pieced seams she took a back stitch about in the middle -common and a good idea for creating a strong seam but not fun from the ripping standpoint. On top of that she backstitched at least once at the end of each seam and when four seams come together - all backstitched -  what a nightmare.

I just have to wonder.
How could anyone think this could 'work'?

The funny thing is that in spite of all those secure seams she apparently didn't think it was important to cut each square the exact same size - OR to sew a consistent seam. Doesn't have to be 1/4" but consistent would be nice.

Have you joined the group that thinks I'm 'crazy'?

Can't blame you.

Nevertheless....

...TA DA



Done ripping.

A shoe box full sorted by color - they will be hand washed in color groups, pressed, errant threads cleaned up, re-stacked in their nice shoe box....and then the fun begins. What will I make?

I like to keep some element of the original in at least one of the resulting pieces so maybe the first one will use the Trip Around the World pattern pattern in some way.

For now, I'll put this shoe box next to the shoe box from the last top I ripped....I've made two doll quilts from that one already.

Links to the two posts about that ripping project as well as a link to ripping out some embroidered blocks and what I did with those:

Ripping Project Part I

Ripping project Part II

Embroidery Ripping Results

Every morning, Every evening, Ain't we got fun!

Listen to Peggy Lee here.