Tag Archives: Quilt blocks

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Saturday Update….

The holiday weekend is starting out HOT….90+ and so humid…Not garden weather so I’m working on the Old Italian Block quilt.

I have about 1/3 of the quilting done.  It shows better from the back.  I like to use off white thread, it shows better on the dark backing fabric

You can see that I work in a hoop.  This one is an 18″ hoop and I have wrapped the wooden hoop with strips of fabric.  Wrapping the hoop keeps the quilt from slipping loose without having to tighten the nut too much, which can stretch the fabric.

I got another one of the pineapple applique blocks done.

That makes 4….8 to go

Does anyone else have a pile-o-quilting like this?

I could blog for weeks about the things that are in this pile, and that is just a small percentage of things waiting to be sorted and properly stored.

The weather is too hot to work on the garden but it is looking good

See the Garden Journal http://timquilts.wordpress.com/garden-journal/ for more pictures.

Happy 4th and Happy Quilting

Tim

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Pineapple Applique Quilt

After I finished the Pickle dish/fish bone quilt (see Thursday’s post), and got back from the appraiser friday night, I had to decide on the next project.  I decided to give the pineapple quilt a try.  It is patterned after an antique.

I purchased a “Kit” from a seller on eBay….the kit contained all the fabric needed and the pattern from American Patchwork & Quilting October 2002.  Here is the pattern

I am not an applique expert so this is a learn-as- I- go project.  The instructions called for freezer paper applique and just didn’t seem right to me, too confusing….I had to do it my own way…right or wrong it had to make sense to me and not drive me crazy.  So I traced out some templates.

I traced the pieces onto the fabric and cut them out leaving a seam allowance

I’m not very good at needle turn so I basted the seams under

and then basted them into the backing fabric (which had the pattern traced on with a wash away marker) before applique

I learned a few things as I went.   Thread is important! Once I switched to silk it went much better.  Needle choice is important as well, I found a #10 sharp to work well for me.

It might have taken longer to do all the basting but it worked well, I completed 2 of the 12 blocks Saturday night and Sunday afternoon

It’s a learning process but I think they are turning out pretty good.  Applique is a nice change from hand quilting, but I plan to start another quilt as well.  I will have one to work on quilting and one to work on applique…Some variety to keep from getting tired of either one.

The garden also Continues to grow…see the Garden Journal (tab at the top of page) for more new pictures.

Happy Quilting!

Tim

Update 6/20/11

I just came across a seller on eBay who has this pineapple pattern for sale

it is item #160606679235

starting bid is .99

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UFOs…not a new phenomenon

I’m sure that many quilters out there have a supply of UFOs (unfinished objects).  Recently I have begun collecting antique and vintage UFOs.  I find it so interesting that quilters from the past also had a bit of trouble finishing a project before moving on to another. There are a lot of UFOs out there, some have been waiting for over 100 years to become finished! 

My primary source for unfinished quilt pieces is eBay.  Here are just a few that I have recently purchased.

Not really enough of these ocean waves blocks to make a full quilt.  They are quite old (my guess is late 1800′s)  Perhaps some day I will find some more to add, or maybe I will have to piece some blocks myself to fill in.  Either way I will post what I decide to do.

This beautiful set of blocks in the “all hands around” pattern will make a great top. They are also quite old and beautifully done.   I plan to set them on point and use muslin in the blank squares.  The blank squares will leave me plenty of space for hand quilting which is my real passion.

These stars will make a great top some day, in this picture they are laid out on a piece of yellow fabric, I still can’t decide if it that is the right color to set them in.

I have plenty of these appliqued flowers to make a quilt.  I think they need some green sashing, set like they are it looks to busy to me.

This set of blocks has me stumped…I have laid them out in several configurations and have yet to find jut the right one.  I will be inspired when the time is right.

I love these blocks, but I wish I had more. The thing with antique UFOs is that you have to make it work with what you have.

I don’t know what I will do with these embroidered blocks but I feel like I need to add some color.

This is the UFO I am working on now.

Notice that the green block in the center still has the original quilters needle in it….that block is being saved as is and will always stay with the finished product.  I have been taking pictures of the progress and will post a full story about it when I finish.

A while back I bought a pile of blue and pale yellow fabric, and some completed blocks, and some templates.  The quilter had planned to make it into a Drunkards path.

Templates looked like this

I finished piecing all the blocks, now the question became how to set them.  There are so many ways to set these simple blocks

Here is a traditional drunkards path I did last year.  Hand quilted on an antique top.

Here is one from a few years ago in the “fools puzzle” setting

Here is a UFO in a different Drunkards path setting

This one has a lot of repair work needed.

I love the double pink in this one.  The pattern is so much stronger when done in just 2 colors.  This one came from Canada.

I finally decided that I would just start placing the blocks in different ways and see where it led me.

Here is the finished top

I did make a few mistakes that I will have to fix.  Can you see those  that need to be reoriented?

I thought I could live with is as is but I can’t.  It must be fixed.

Now I need to plan the backing and get to quilting.  I will post about that when I start.

Update note 3/31/11

I just purchased another UFO drunkard’s path from eBay, this one in red and white (the red and white show excited me so much That I just couldn’t help myself) I will post about that one when I get to work on it.  I will show my take on how simple it really is to sew those curves.