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?"

Improvising - Bricks Series #7

It's time to get started with my experimentation. Last week I dumped out the baggie of small scraps from my on-going "Bricks" project and discovered that it's harder than I thought to 'just put things together'. One does need some sort of plan.

Based on the number of narrow strips in my collection, I decided to work with the 'housetop' style. So named in many of the Gee's Bend quilts, it's basically the log cabin concept;  a central shape surrounded by strips.

Just one block will complete my small top as in these bed-sized examples:

Or you can make numerous blocks and sew them together:

(Here is the original top again... 

...the mother of six little quilts so far.) 

  



My goal in this series is to use up all of the fabrics gleaned from the original top but it seems I will never get rid of it all!
In addition to the many small scraps left from the above quilts, I still have quite a lot of the original rectangles (3.5" x 6"). I decided to use some of them for the backing of #7 in a similar layout seen in the original top. They seemed a bit too large in scale for this little piece so I folded them in half and used a scissors to cut them into two pieces. I needed to trim some fraying edges and straighten crooked sides which I am doing with a scissors - 'by eye'.
I decided not to use any rotary cutters or measuring devices for this project. The resulting shapes will not be exactly the same in size so sewing them together should be interesting.

I'll share completed top and backing in a future post - hopefully soon.

For an inspiring look at more improvisational quilts see this site:

Improvisational Quilts of Susan Allen Hunter

Ta-Da! Tumbler Finished!

14" X 18"

Here it is - hand quilted and bound. I've finished two projects in recent weeks....I think I'm on a roll!



I usually wash my finished pieces but since I used fabric taken out of a hundred year old quilt top, and washed and pressed the pieces before I started, I decided not to push my luck. (Click here to see the post with the original top)

Here's an actual glass tumbler from about the 1940's. It has a special good luck horseshoe at the bottom.  Could it be an incentive to finish your milk?

I quilted an overall fan at about 3/8". I decided to try doing it without marking. It was fun and freeing....and the lack of precision actually makes it more interesting to me. ( I'm not just making that up.)

I had a nice vintage piece of woven black and white check which was perfect for the back.

At first I thought I'd just bring the backing to the front for binding but it didn't enhance the quilt so I had to use a reproduction for the binding.

Another motif inspired by an ordinary household object is this Goblet pieced block.  Quite a few are seen in blue and white - which happen to be the colors of the Women's Christian Temperance Union.


This quilt is in the Quilt Index.

When only one shape is used in the entire quilt, as in my little Tumbler, it may be referred to as a 'one-patch'. It's fun to see how interesting and appealing a quilt can be using just one simple shape.

Next Post: A few more One-Patch designs from my collection.