| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| ElizArtist |
Posted - Oct 04 2004 : 3:33:44 PM
Every once in a while I get possessed by the need to do a quilting project and I have an idea to do one about chickens. Does anyone know any good blocks that evoke chickens? I saw one recently of a butterfly and I wonder if there are chicken blocks out there too. I don't just want to rely on using chicken print fabric to get my idea across.
Elizabeth
joyously dancing through life |
| 25 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Bonnie Ellis |
Posted - Sep 12 2009 : 12:40:40 PM
Nikki: I repair old quilts. But, what I want to tell you that the story of that quilt from start until it totally gone is important. It is part of it's history. You should write the history on your computer and put it on cloth and sew it to the back of the quilt. Some of these stories are funny, some are very sad.
One I will share with you was a perfect 1860's applique wedding quilt. The gal asked me if I could fix it. Her mother had alsheimers disease (sp.) She was a smoker and had apparently dropped ashes on the quilt. Somehow there is a perfect 6" square cut out of the middle. The square itself is nowhere to be found. I told her the same thing I told her. You need to include as much of the history of the quilt as possible on cloth and then sew that into the empty spot.!
We forget our history if it isn't written down.
Good luck.
Bonnie Ellis
grandmother and orphan farmgirl |
| Aunt Jenny |
Posted - Nov 03 2004 : 10:05:08 PM
oooooh I have that book....I am going to be making some chickens!!
Jenny in Utah
Bloom where you are planted! |
| Eileen |
Posted - Nov 03 2004 : 4:59:59 PM
 I am sitting here drinking a hot cup of tea and looking at my tea cozy that I made about a hundred years or so ago and guess what!? I made it from a pattern I got out of an old Better homes and gardens or Womans Day christmas magazine. It is a cartoon Chicken sitting on a nest inside a chickenwire coop. I have been using it for so long I just don't see it anymore.  It would make such a cute quilt block.I just looked through one of my magazine compilations and it wasn't in that one but if I do run across it I will let you know which one. I did find a pattern for a chicken tree ornament and a baby chick tree ornament that could be made up really cute into a quilt block as well. It was in the 1980 edition ofBetter homes and gardens treasury of christmas crafts and foods. On page 199 with pattern on page 207. You can get this book at the library here so it maybe available where you live.
Eileen
songbird; singing joy to the earth |
| jpbluesky |
Posted - Oct 23 2004 : 06:42:05 AM
What a wonderful story, and I love the history on your grandmother! Our women who went before us were tough! I have read a book about the frontier women of Kansas, and it is fascinating. Oh to be so strong and yet able to create such a thing of patience and beauty as a postage stamp quilt.
jpbluesky
Love those big blue skies and wide open spaces. |
| MeadowLark |
Posted - Oct 22 2004 : 12:44:52 PM
Dear Jeannie, You again brought back a warm memory with this talk of grandma's quilts. My grandmother's 1930's postage stamp quilt was very precious to me. She died of colon cancer 4 years before my birth. She raised 3 children, as a widow, during the depression, on a rented Kansas farm. She taught herself to be a surgical nurse to raise extra income. I had only heard my mother's stories of her but surmised this was one tough, beautiful brave farm girl. I took her quilt with me to college to snuggle with for comfort. I also used it for picnics with my future husband to my mother's dismay. There were some grass stains but I got them out. The quilt has been tucked away for the future...
Time Flies |
| jpbluesky |
Posted - Oct 22 2004 : 10:57:50 AM
Idahospud -
Your red white and blue quilt from the 70's could be a bonafide collectible. And you may not want to use it too much!
I remember the quilts that were made commemorating the 1776-1976 American Bicentennial Celebrations, and they are valuable now. Yours may be one!
You know the quilt I love from my grandma - well, once my daughter came home from a romantic picnic with her boyfriend and she was carrying that quilt under her arm. Sure enough, there was candle wax and grass stain on it! She thought she had a quilt that I did not mind being used for a picnic quilt. It took all my control to handle that situation! For many reasons (!) but one being the thought of my heirloom quilt on the grass with a burning candle on it! Yikes!!! Thankfully I got all but one small spot out with careful cleaning. Oh well, another chapter in it's history, right?
jpbluesky
Love those big blue skies and wide open spaces. |
| LakesideQltr |
Posted - Oct 22 2004 : 10:41:26 AM
ElizArtist...there are two different feet you need for maching quilting. If you are doing free motion you use a darning foot (the kind with the small ring at the bottom) and lower the feed dogs under the plate...I also then totally release the pressure of the presser foot. (your machine quide book should tell you how to do lower the feed dogs - mine involves a lever I push back on the left of the bottom of the machine). For straight quilting you use an even feed foot. (it has a forked arm that attaches to the needle screw and synchronized the feed of the fabric with the needle)
I just use regular high quality thread for machine quilting but many do use quilting thread in the top and regular thread in the bobbin or there are tons of kewl decorative/variegated threads that are great. Best thing is to experiment - layer a preprinted panel or draw on muslin layered with batting and try out your stitching style. The experts recommend starting free motion with quilting your name or signature as that gives you a feel for control of motion with something familiar. Have a really comfortable chair and remember when your shoulders rise you're too tense and stop, roll 'em back and down and let your arms hang at your sides and mentally imagine they are rubber/elastic and stretching to the floor. Don't start again until you're really feeling loose.
-Sheila
Life is what happens while you're making other plans - John Lennon |
| ElizArtist |
Posted - Oct 22 2004 : 10:18:51 AM
Oh yes, Sheila, we will have to do tea sometime! I love Yosemite, it must be beautiful living there. Wouldn't it be ideal to live on a boat in Ventura harbor in the summers, Yosemite in the springs, and Hawaii in the winters? I don't know where I'd spend fall though. Maybe Vermont!
joyously dancing through life |
| ElizArtist |
Posted - Oct 22 2004 : 10:17:13 AM
Hi everyone! You are very lucky to have access to old quilts. My family background is from Indonesia and the Netherlands so there isn't much in the way of old quilts through family connections for me. My husband's step father has some old family quilts that are just amazing but he has his own kids to pass them onto. He did notice my interest in them and showed them to me which I really enjoyed. If I ever get an old quilt it will be the expensive ebay way. Otherwise, I'm happy to make my own. I am going to go ahead and try machine quilting on my last one, a lady bug quilt. I hope I don't mess it up. Do you have to remove the pressure foot on the machine? Does anyone know? Do you use quilting thread in the sewing machine? Or regular thread?
Sheila, thanks so much for the link! I'm excited about the chicken quilting possiblities now!
Happy quilting!
Elizabeth
joyously dancing through life |
| bramble |
Posted - Oct 22 2004 : 08:39:22 AM
Hi again all you quilt lovers! I know what you mean about treasuring the quilts loving hands made for us. I have two quilts my Mom made, one a pinwheel and the other a Bears Paw. They are the quilts I crawl under for comfort , solace and peace because I know they were held by her, meant for me and they were given with love.
Nikki-- Yes! I did just use that fabric in my little machine pieced and quilted quilt. It is very vintage looking and I think dresden plate (or grandmother's fan) would look great in this Aunt Gracie
fabric. The Annie collection is pretty cool too!~Bramble
with a happy heart |
| LakesideQltr |
Posted - Oct 22 2004 : 08:32:17 AM
Guess what?!?!?! FOUND IT ON THE FIRST TRY!!! Here ya go... http://jdqltr.home.att.net/chickens/
-Sheila
Life is what happens while you're making other plans - John Lennon |
| LakesideQltr |
Posted - Oct 22 2004 : 08:29:01 AM
ElizArtist...I too live in CA and your description of your "corner" in Ventura with a yarn shop, a quilting shop and a bead shop as 'neighbors' sounds like my idea of paradise! I'll hafta keep that in mind should I ever get to that area. And if you ever get up in the foothills near Yosemite you'll hafta come by for coffee sometime and bring a goodie bag to swap! <G>
All this talk of the old quilts has me itchin' to do some stitchin' and put together some vintage blocks I have acquired in years past and quilt some tops I've been so blessed to have/be given. As for chicken quilts...there is a website (lost the link when my hard drive dived a couple months ago) that is nothing but chicken patterns and links to chicken patterns. I'll see if I can locate it again and post the link.
-Sheila
Life is what happens while you're making other plans - John Lennon |
| Idahospud |
Posted - Oct 22 2004 : 07:58:58 AM
The most astonishing wedding gift I was given was from a friend of my grandmother who had bought the last quilt Grandma ever made--and she gave that quilt to me! Tt is red, white, and blue stars on a white background, all hand done and made in the 70s. A quilter friend told me I should wrap it in tissue paper and put it away, but as a quilter I know that quilts I make I DON"T want people to put away, I want them to be USED! And I think Grandma would want her granddaughter to sleep under that quilt. So it has been in use in various rooms in the house. I almost regretted that choice when my brother's family lived with us; I found their Boston Terrier in a "nest" made out of it one day; knowing how she paws at things to nest herself in them, I panicked and checked the quilt and sure enough, there were little rips in the quilt from her sharp little claws! It was the closest I've ever come to wanting to hurt an animal (and wanting to kill my brother for letting her do it!), I'll tell you! But I did the repairs on it and now it is on display in my guest room like my other old quilts.
I remember a Sun Bonnet Sue that was on the bed I used when I visited Grandma, but I don't know whatever happened to it. I used to spend lots of time studying each Sue and the fabrics used, and the stitching around it. I'm still fascinated by Sun Bonnet Sue quilts and have bid on a few on Ebay. The other elusive quilt I want is a Grandmother's Flower Garden--that is one I will probably never make because of the teeny pieces and all those hexagons! They always go for WAYYYYY beyond my budget on Ebay.
Has anyone used the Aunt Gracie quilt fabric that is vintage reproduction? I haven't yet, but I want to do a Dresden Plate or something out of them some day. |
| jpbluesky |
Posted - Oct 22 2004 : 06:19:15 AM
Hi to my fellow quilters! I, too, have loved quilts all my life. As a child, my grandmother made and gave my mom two twin-size quilts for my sister's and my twin beds - they were lightweight for summer. She had made them in the 1930's and passed them on to us in the 50's. My pattern is a wedding ring (white background) and my sister's is a log cabin (pastels). Mine has a scalloped edge all around and the back is a soft coral pink. Now it is one of my prized possessions. When the hurricane was recently headed our way and I packed the car with some items that meant most, that quilt was the first thing in the trunk. Wrapped in a white cotton blanket and folded carefully!
I have the last quilt top that my grandmother pieced before she had her first stroke in the "60's and I am finishing it. It is made from pieces of her old dresses, and I can recognize the patterns on the fabrics and picture her wearing those dresses.
Once, 30 years ago, I bought a quilt from a mountain woman (Rosey) in North Carolina. She quilted all winter and worked all summer at Nantahala Lodge, where I used to go in the summers. She asked me $35.00 for it. And then she said, "Do you think that is too high?" I still have that quilt, too, and use it on my guest bed often. It has a lot of orange in it, some black and pale blue, which sounds awful, but it is really quite pretty. It, too, is a log cabin design.
Once about 15 years ago I found a crazy quilt (with wool batting - heavy as all get out) at a junk store for $50.00. No rips, though, and in great shape. It has a lot of red in it and has become my Christmas tree skirt. Gosh, you could sleep in zero degree weather and be warm under that quilt.
Quilts are wondrous works of art made by hands that want others to be warm and comfortable. They take us to sleep, and to memories of our family, and their just as precious as a painting or a sculpture. More so, because you can wrap up in them and become part of the art.
The perfect expression of creativity!
jpbluesky
Love those big blue skies and wide open spaces. |
| bramble |
Posted - Oct 22 2004 : 05:49:45 AM
Nikki--Gladly! I guess Karen will let us know what's available for anyone interested. You sound like me , I love quilts and the old patterns really are my favorites. My first old quilt came from my great gran and it is just big rectangles decending red/white/red/white to a center red rectangle and all hand quilted . The fabrics are very tiny sprigged cotton that almost look like it's hand stamped. She made this when she was 9 so it is from 1865!
I have a dresden plate in very 20's-30's fabrics that my husband gave me our first Valentine's Day so that's a special one too! The names are very interesting too they relate to so many unusual subjects! I learn something new everytime I meet a quilter! Bramble
with a happy heart |
| Idahospud |
Posted - Oct 21 2004 : 8:02:17 PM
Oh, and Karen--
I'd love to hear about your ebay quilts! I have four I have bought, but I have bid on many, many, many quilts over the last couple of years and have been outbid. I have two full-size ones from the 30's made out of feedsack fabrics that are still in pretty good shape--a Grandmother's Fan and a Four-Point Star, both with yellow borders and backing, one hand- and the other machine-quilted (the Fan hangs in my laundry room, the star is folded on my guest bed). Another is from the 50s and a twin size "Granny Quilt" with a sweet blue-flower print on both sides, machine quilted. It is in great shape. The final one is one of my favorite patterns, Burgoyne Surrounded, done in blue and white. It is newer but still hand-quilted and in awesome shape. Both of these quilts are displayed in my guest room, as well. I love to go visit and "pet" them.
And alas, I was outbid on my latest desire, a pink-and-white Hearts and Gizzards that ended up going for over $200.
Ebay and quilting are two of my addictions! lol |
| Idahospud |
Posted - Oct 21 2004 : 7:54:58 PM
Hey bramble, if you end up with more than you can use, I would love a chance at breathing new life into an old quilt. I have some pillows on my porch made out of an old quilt and I just love them. The quilts I make now are always done in classic patterns, and usually just two-color (white and another color). There is nothing like the comfort of an old (or old-fashioned) quilt! |
| bramble |
Posted - Oct 20 2004 : 12:33:50 PM
Hi Karen --That sounds great, as much as I hate to cut an old quilt if that's how it gets to live on I'm all for it. I made a cute pig and bear pillow once before from a piece someone gave me. Let the sewing begin! Bramble
ps...check your email!
with a happy heart |
| KJAMES |
Posted - Oct 20 2004 : 07:43:44 AM
JUST WANTED TO LET EVERYONE KNOW THAT I HAVE SEVERAL CUTTER QUILTS THAT I WOULD BE GLAD TO SEND SOMEONE IF THEY COULD USE THEM TO MAKE NEW QUILTS. I PURCHASED THEM ON E BAY WITH SEVERAL GOOD QUILTS. ANYWAY IF SOMEONE WOULD LIKE TO HAVE THEM I WOULD BE HAPPY TO SEND THEM TO YOU FOR THE COST OF SHIPPING. |
| bramble |
Posted - Oct 18 2004 : 3:10:23 PM
ElizArtist--Nice to see your post. I just finished a miniature quilt that was machine pieced and machine quilted (freestyle) and it was lots of fun. The size had alot to do with it because it was easy to
fling around under the presser foot. My quilting group challenged me to do this because up until now I have been a hand piecer/quilter
and had to live down the nick name "Granny"! I'm not one!
Have fun and I'll keep looking for chickens! Bramble
with a happy heart |
| ElizArtist |
Posted - Oct 18 2004 : 2:21:49 PM
Hey girls!
Thanks for the suggestions. Yeah, being in a yarn shop all day is bad enough but there is a great quilt store next door and a bead shop around the corner just to make sure I stay in total craft trouble! All in all I'd say it's the best place in Ventura to hang around.
I am a slow quilter but eventually when I decide how I'm going to go on this project I'll let you know. I've always hand quilted in the past but am thinking about machine quilting have any of you tried that? I should clarify that I machine piece and hand quilt. Something about machine quiliting seems like it would be harder to me. Any thoughts?
Elizabeth
joyously dancing through life |
| Eileen |
Posted - Oct 13 2004 : 6:19:17 PM
Elizabeth,
There are some cute embroidery patterns of chickens and roosters in old magazines that I think would make up into a cute quilt. Maybe you could photograph some chickens and create some embroidery patterns or applique patterns of your own and then embrioder or applique patches.
We'd love to see your project as you work on it if you have a digital camera.
Eileen
songbird |
| jpbluesky |
Posted - Oct 08 2004 : 12:46:30 PM
True blue girl -
Glad you have a job you love! And glad you are still checking in with us, too! Let us know how you finally choose to do that chicken quilt. However, being in a yarn shop, you are probably very tempted to do all sorts of other projects! That is the beauty of wanting to create!
jpbluesky
Love those big blue skies and wide open spaces. |
| Aunt Jenny |
Posted - Oct 08 2004 : 11:47:08 AM
ooooooh a yarn shop. I think I would have a hard time getting home with any of my paycheck. I KNOW I couldn't work at a book store either!! Sounds like fun.
Jenny in Utah
Bloom where you are planted! |
| ElizArtist |
Posted - Oct 08 2004 : 11:24:00 AM
Dear Jeannie and Jenny,
Thank you so much for your suggestions. I'm going to have to do a lot of sketching and thinking about this! Yes, I haven't been as active online lately because I've been working outside the home for the first time in a long time! It's terrible whoever got the idea taking care of the home wasn't enough of a job? Oh well, I shouldn't complain, I actually love my job and it is very laid back. I'm working at a yarn shop for an awesome person, and I teach knitting there too.
Anyway, I see you two are already True Blue Farmgirls! Oops I'm true blue too, but you have more stars!!!
Thanks!
Elizabeth
joyously dancing through life |
