Tim Latimer - Quilts etc

Suspension Bridge again

timquilts — Thu, 23 May 2013 19:06:01 +0000

As you probably can tell if you have followed my blog for very long I have a hard time working on only one thing. The whole cloth quilt that I have been working on the last few days is looking closer to finish but I needed a break so I went back to some piecing today. For those who have not been following that long I started the Suspension Bridge quilt here (http://timquilts.com/2013/04/30/suspension-bridge-piecing/) and here (http://timquilts.com/2013/04/29/suspension-bridge-variation/) and the pattern is here (http://timquilts.com/2013/05/03/suspension-bridge-pattern/)

I have 1/2 of the blocks done and I need to make 6 more blocks and lots more sashing!

Here are some more pictures (click pictures to enlarge)

Teddy is in need of a bath and a brushing but he wanted to have his picture in the blog today anyway

Happy Quilting

Tim

Whole Cloth continues

timquilts — Wed, 22 May 2013 15:58:47 +0000

In the last few days I have been working on hand quilting the whole cloth quilt. I have been finishing quilting and , because I couldn’t wait to get started, I have been adding trapunto. Here are a few pictures that show what I have done in the center. Half of the wreath is done and one of the feathers

Today I decided to hang it up and take a picture to show the whole thing.

and here you can see a few more pictures (click to enlarge)

Happy Quilting

Tim

Lectures and progress

timquilts — Tue, 21 May 2013 13:32:33 +0000

For my friends in Michigan I will be speaking at the Capital City Quilt Guild ( http://www.capitolcityquiltguild.org/index.php ) in Lansing MI on June 20th at 7pm , And at the Evening Star Quilt Guild (http://eveningstarquilters.blogspot.com/ )In Davidson MI on July 31 At 6:30. Check the links for details Here is the description

“Tim is a hand quilter and floral designer from Lansing who specializes in adopting older quilt tops that need “loving attention,” performs whatever remedy is needed, and hand quilts to perfection! “

I hope to see some of you there!

I have added some of the trapunto to the center of the whole cloth quilt….I hope you can see the difference in these before and after pictures.

these pictures show the before and after (and also show how lighting changes color!) the darker pictures are before adding the trapunto and the lighter pictures are after adding about half (click to enlarge)

Happy Quilting

Tim

Sunday Updates

timquilts — Sun, 19 May 2013 22:33:48 +0000

I finished up the quilting on the center of the Whole cloth quilt. Here it is before

and here it is after filling in the last bits around the edges of the wreath

I will go back and add the trapunto to this once I finish all the quilting

Saturday was MSU plant sale day and even thought I was working the sale I had to buy some things, and today I went to my favorite garden store….The Flower Garden, in Eaton Rapids MI. I did some planting today and I have some more to go

Here are some pictures of the garden this afternoon. (click to enlarge)

It is pretty dry here….so I hope to get some rain soon…it makes it easier to pull weeds!

Happy Gardening and Quilting

Tim

Blast From The Past

timquilts — Sat, 18 May 2013 19:19:13 +0000

I recently purchased a quilt made entirely out of polyester double knit fabric. Before you become totally horrified at the thought of that let me explain why.

I believe that these quilts are an important part of quilting history . Quilting was for a long time assumed to be dying out of popularity.

We tend to think of America’s 200th birthday in 1976 as the beginning of the latest quilt revival. Jonathan Holstein and Gail van der Hoof began collecting quilts at the end of the 1960s. In 1971 they were able to display the most fascinating of their quilts at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.

These 2 events caused a gradual increase in women wanting to learn to quilt. Popular women’s magazines began to include more articles about quilt projects. Quilters used the fabric at hand which was often double knit. Double knits went out of vogue for clothing during the 1970s but they were used to make quilts.

So these double knit quilts do fit into the history of quilting. They were really at the beginning of the quilting world that we are in now. By 2010 it became a 3.58 billion dollar industry…with patterns aplenty, the most complex of machines and tools, hundreds of magazines….blogs!

Poly quickly went out of use as quilters started to look for more traditional materials….and shops dedicated to the quilter began to operate. In many ways the polyester quilts of the 70′s are the grandparents of the quilts of today.

My quilt is tied not quilted. The backing needs replacement because it is rather worn and the batting is in shreds! Older batting was not resin bonded and needle punched so after several washings it ended up clumpy and bumpy and migrating everywhere, and with a tied quilt there is not quilting to hold that batting in place.

But the top is in great shape! The double knit fabric will seemingly never ever wear out! So I plan a bit of a face lift for this quilt. I will replace the backing and the batting, and I will do some simple hand quilting….once that is done it will last for many more years of use.

Here are some pictures of the quilt (click to enlarge)

I put the rings quilt on the couch and Teddy decided that was pretty cool….but when he gets up there he always lands in the center of one of the circles.

Today I spent the day on the MSU campus for the annual plant sale (I bought a few myself and will write about that when I plant them) Tonight I am going to work some more on my whole cloth quilt. I have the center of the quilt in the hoop today and I will finish that area tonight. It still drives me crazy that the seam is right there in the center but I am trying to get over that. Also I don’t think I need to be driven crazy…I can walk from here.

Happy quilting

Tim

Rings Quilt Finished

timquilts — Thu, 16 May 2013 01:51:19 +0000

I started this quilt last summer and got back to it this year. I finished the top on April 22 (see that post here)

I started quilting it on May 5 (see that post here) and I did a short video of the quilting (see that here)

I use about 400 yards of thread on this quilt, and the quilting took about 10 days (between a few other projects).

I decided to piece the binding with black and white fabric to match the inner border. The fabric was sewed together in strips

then cut at 2 1/2 ” and joined together. I cut it 2 1/2″ wide and folded it in half….then machine sewed it to the front, folded it to the back and hand stitched it to the backing.

I used muslin for the backing

The “puffiness” comes from the poly batting. I felt that if it had been finished back in the year that it was started the original maker would have used poly.

Here are more pictures (click to enlarge)

It was dark when I took the pictures but It just came out of the dryer and I couldn’t wait until morning to take pictures.

Now back to work on the whole cloth quilt.

Happy Quilting

Tim

Dogwood Blossom Quilt Top

timquilts — Tue, 14 May 2013 18:55:20 +0000

A new vintage quilt top today. The pattern is called Dogwood Blossom

This top is 70″ x 83″ and mostly hand pieced.

The piecing is not the best work but I will do some adjusting on that.

Click to enlarge these

And here are a few garden pictures

I should be finished with the rings quilt tomorrow

Happy Quilting

Tim

Red and White Applique Blocks

timquilts — Mon, 13 May 2013 18:25:08 +0000

Today I got a group of antique quilt blocks from eBay. It is difficult to date the blocks because the fabric is solid red and white. Printed fabrics are much easier to date based on the design. These I will just call old.

The blocks are not completed. The pieces were cut out and basted to the squares, but I will need to do the applique. You may remember that I hate to applique….but I could not resist these blocks!

One of the blocks has the applique started.

The seller was selling them individually, but I bought all they had. I got a total of 13. Each block is 18″ square

Here is how they look if I set them 3 x 4

and here is how they look if I set them on point and use all 13.

Either was think I will make a border to coordinate with the design. I can not find a name for the design but I will keep looking.

The seller also sent 2 additional blocks

These will go into another project some day.

Here are a bunch of pictures of them all (click to enlarge)

Of course I will hand quilt this when all the applique is done….but that will be a while yet!

Happy Quilting

Tim

Bridal Bouquet Quilt Top

timquilts — Sun, 12 May 2013 13:12:29 +0000

A few Days Ago I wrote about some Bridal Bouquets that I made .

I was reminded that there is a quilt pattern from the 30′s called Bride’s Bouquet. It is also called The Nose Gay.

You may not be surprised to know that I have a quilt top in my collection in this pattern.

When I bought the quilt the blocks were arranged differently, they were placed together so that they looked like complex stars.

The most traditional setting is with the blocks set on point as in this example from the quilt index.

The blocks are also usually made with all the bouquet handles in the same color, usually green as in this example.

Mine were all different, and I took them all apart and set them back together like this.

It also has an ice cream cone border. The finished size is 80″ x 90″.

many of the pieces have seams which I presume to be from when they were feed sacks

I had planned to quilt this right away, and then new projects kept piling up on top of it and I forgot all about it.

but I really like it, I think I have to move it up in the stack and get it quilted. Here are a bunch more pictures (click to enlarge)

Happy Mother’s Day

and Happy Quilting

Tim

Free Form Fans

timquilts — Sat, 11 May 2013 14:44:37 +0000

Yesterday I worked on some of the border on the Rings quilt. I decided to do free form fans. With this quilt I just quilted and let it happen because I did not want to do any marking. I am happy with how it is turning out. The poly batting is making for a rather “puffy” quilt, and in this case I like that.

I have 8 more rings to hand quilt and 3 borders.

More pictures (click to enlarge)

Happy Quilting

Tim