my latest project....bold and graphic don't you think?

I was inspired by this antique quilt of course :)....oh look at those tumblers, the shape and length is different then what you normally see....

This is the book I found this quilt. I pulled the book looking for inspiration off my bookcase and boy did I find it! Gathered in Time , Utah quilts and their makers, worth adding to your quilt library in mho.
I thought how do I draft that shape? and what fabrics should I use? I have two bird fabrics reproduced by two different companies almost the exact same fabric...so I chose the lighter one but I had to add in a few of the darker printed one too. Ages the quilt in mho!
I just kept cutting and cutting ...
and in less then 2 days of seeing the quilt in the book it was on my design wall ready to be sewn together!

Oh how did I draft the pattern??? surprise I just used a dresden plate ruler chose the size of the tumbler I wanted put tape on the top and bottom of where my fabric would be cut into strips, laid the ruler down and started cutting....worked like a charm. Nice to know some of these rulers can have multiple uses don't you agree????

so tell me have you used a speciality ruler for another purpose?

I do not remember seeing a red and white tumbler at the REd and White exhibit in NYC last year, I have thought about this a few times I need to go back and look again....if you saw the exhibit do you remember seeing a tumbler quilt?

will get back to the antique quilt exhibit at the mercer museum soon...its open till Sunday if your anywhere in the area....

A few more quilts from the Mercer Museum exhibit of Paul and Rita Flacks collection in Doylestown Pa. I want to thank them personally for sharing a few of their amazing quilts with the public. From what I understand they have an incredible quilt collection. I hope the museum will consider another exhibit in the future of more of these collectors quilts.

This was an appliquéd cradle quilt "spread" , not quilted ,meant to be used during the summer months. 1840-1860

I think it looks perfect on the wall! I am so fond of red and green appliqué quilts and this one has all the elements i love. I was so drawn to this quilt I had to go look at it a few times.

Did you notice the border? We can learn so much from these quilts.

here I know a few of you love birds on quilts like I do....Judy, Barb.

just how fun is that basket????
Lucy here the tulips are for you! I LOVE these tulips...now don't they remind you of Gwen Marston????

This quilt was so stunning in person oh how I loved her fabric choices. So many of them have been reproduced in the past few years...The cheddar and the blue were solids everything else was a print. the border treatment was sooo effective, not something I would have ever thought of. I love this block and her using 1/2 of the center all around the border just perfect. At first when I looked at this quilt I thought the blocks were different , your eye was tricked with the different backgrounds, skilled quilt maker in mho. She was a designer for sure.

1880 - 1910 stylized floral applique

This quilt was so bold, I love the cheddar background but still not sure I can ever really do that!

I love how she handled the hst corners....see don't fret when your doing this just do it! its beautiful. The hand quilting does not go thru the appliqué , she didn't quilt the leaves just the red flowers simple outline. I loved the simplicity of this quilt, don't you?

I hope if your any where in the area of Pa you will take the time and go see this exhibit support the museum and enjoy seeing these quilts in person. YOu will not regret it.

Doylestown is a great town to just walk around in, shop, great restaurants and yes there is a quilt shop in town too!

This quilt was one of my favorites from the Mercer Museum in Doylestown, Pa. I always ask myself at the end of an exhibit or quilt show which quilt or 2 quilts would I take home with me if I could. This was one of them

I love how graphic it was, of course the fabrics/colors and the hand quilting had me wowed from the beginning. Look at how she used different designs in-between the circles and then the border

perfect. The quilt just awed me. I wish i could draft patterns like this I would be making this one!
the card said Bullseye with Chips and Whetstones 1870 1900

wonder if there is another name for this quilt pattern?

Broderie Perse 1812 possibly NJ, this quilt was just so stunning. It drew me in and spent a long time studying the stitching looking at the fabric she used for the inner border/ outer border so delicate and worked perfectly. Just look at the hand quilting behind the birds below...see the swags she added underneath, it was amazing. This quilt had so much texture and visual interest by her choices of hand quilting designs.

I just loved this quilt, the pattern as well as the amazing hand quilting. Of course I loved the colors too, red and yellow! Just so bold, looks like the modern quilters are getting their inspiration from antique quilts too don't you agree?
check out the previous posts to see more from this exhibit of Paul and Rita Flacks collection of Pa quilts. here and here

To continue my post from yesterday of the antique quilts exhibited at the Mercer Museum in Doylestown Pa These were not the star of the show but to me they were still beautiful and I am glad they were included.

I love basket quilts I was so glad to see one included in this exhibit. The lancaster blue was a surprised for me on the border. It toned down the yellow though and it really worked. I think I may just have to make a red and green basket quilt, not quite sure I am convinced to use yellow for the background though :)
When you see quilts like this now you know why you need to collect lancaster blue when you see it in the shops, it is not reproduced very often. 1870 -1880

I loved this quilt it was so graphic and the color choices were amazing to me. Not a combination I would ever do before seeing this quilt in person! yes its true I am drawn to simple blocks and designs that have such a wow factor thru the use of color. this one having the 4 patches on point and then adding the sawtooth ( hst ) inner border with the 5 strip outer border was amazing. LOOK at this border, the strips are all the same size, it was so perfect on this quilt. She just didn't add on a wide border she really thought about the borders for this quilt and as a result to me the quilt is amazing. 1870 - 1880 dated .

from across the room you were drawn into this quilt you had to go look at it close up!

I love that when a quilt pulls you in. I was so intrigued with how she/he used piping to outline the roof and inside walls of the houses it gave the quilt so much interest in mho. Also look at the border, the sizes of the strips she used on the border interested me and on so many quilts in this exhibit. She quilted the sashing a lot and the house not so much..

The schoolhouse quilt was from 1900 -1940 they estimated.

I hope your enjoying seeing the exhibit thru my eyes...would love to hear which quilts interested you.

I went to an antique quilt exhibit at the Mercer Museum in Doylestown Pa.

Over the next week or two I will share a few of my pictures, today I decided to share the pineapple quilts, The descriptions of the quilts said they were foundation or paper pieced, we found the red cheddar and green one was hard to believe it was foundation pieced as we think of today...Still the quilt was incredible, I LOVED how graphic it was and well the colors are just so me!!!! makes me smile. Don't you just love this quilt and I hope it makes us all less critical of our work when the seam is off 1/8 th of an inch (you know what I am talking about right!)

silk this quilt was beautiful, I have never attempted to work with silk yet!

I loved this one too , scrappy! it was fun looking at all the fabrics. Finding many that have been reproduced today and a few I wish would be !!!

so which one was your favorite? I bet you know which one was mine!

If your anywhere in the area of a museum with an antique quilt exhibit GO!!!! its important for us to support these museums anyway in todays economic times but especially for us quilt lovers when they have quilt displays. I fear that a day will come when they no longer exhibit these beautiful antique quilts for us to learn from, be inspired by and just enjoy their beauty .

I picked up my Tribute to Johanna S Rose, the owner of all those amazing quilts I saw at the Red and White Exhibit last year in NYC, yesterday from my long arm quilter. I was having a hard time deciding how to quilt it, I went with baptist fans. I just LOVE how graphic this quilt is. I wish I had a wall I could hang it on permanently. When I walk into my sewing room I love how it looks hanging on my design wall. I think it may stay up for a few days just so I can enjoy it before I attach the binding.

I chose a red print for the binding, made that yesterday. I hate to admit but I still have quite a few quilts that need bindings. its just been way too hot to have a quilt on the lap for binding.

10 weeks till the start of autumn...I am so ready for fall this year.

My finished Dimestore quilt...are you surprised? I decided once I put up a few more strips to audition I wanted to make it a 2 color quilt rather then use the pattern as a guideline for color. The blue strips just kept jumping out at me. Now I am tempted to make a red and white one!
I will use a blue binding and backing fabric. The border fabric is all buildings/architectural drawings, I just love this fabric from the etching line by Moda. I am going to donate this quilt and thought it made a perfect baby quilt. don't you agree? I will definitely use this pattern again, it was so easy to make this quilt from my scrap baskets and closet.
or maybe I should just make another one with the fabrics I pulled! remember my last post? nah I am going to save them for another quilt.

It was fun making this quilt, using what I have and getting a different look then the original quilt.

So what do you do when the inspiration to make a quilt hits and you don't want to wait till you can go shopping for it or the mail carrier to bring it to you???? Shop on line and download the pattern instantly, I LOVE THIS!!!! When I saw that Carrie from Miss Rosie Quilt company started offering her patterns via pdf files I was thrilled. I had a hard time deciding between Dimestore and Bounce for my first pdf file pattern. I am sure Bounce will be next especially after seeing Thelma's Bounce quilt , I just need to shop for some fabric for that quilt, I want it to be made from bright happy modern fabrics...

Back to dimestore those are the fabrics I pulled to used for my Dimestore quilt and this is how I lay out my blocks , this way I can tell if I am going to like how it is going to look. I love using my design wall to audition fabrics. I thought I would share this with you I will layout all the strips for the blocks today, this way I know I will like the layout and blocks before I sew them together.

I just couldn't wait for these two books to arrive and then I was thrilled they arrived before my birthday today, what a great birthday present to myself!

Making Quilts ....the promise of joy by Kathy Doughty (click her name for her blog always full of inspiration and just plain fun!) from Material Obsession and Scrap Quilts by Linda Koenig two great books I am thrilled to have them.

Here is my finished flag quilt top...

The winner of the flag quilt is Randy from Barristers Block blog, I also sent out a few more kits to people I thought would really love the little quilt, a few RAK's .

Helen was one of them (no I have never met Helen just thru blogging) and look she received it yesterday and made it right away! I also sent her my little bow tie quilt, she told me she loved bow tie quilts and I knew it had to go live with her.

I love surprising people like that, see it pays to comment on blogs!

I have done this before and I am sure I will continue too.

Have a great day I plan on spending the day in the sewing room.

back in May, Janet showed this little quilt on her blog, Rogue quilter, and I knew I had to make one too. I emailed her and chatted about it and she said go for it! Its on the cutting table ready to be sewn together hopefully today.

I just love patriotic quilts like this, especially today!

Happy 4th of July to all my fellow American readers.

SOOOO would you like to make a little quilt like this??????

Tell me your favorite 4th of July memory and you could win a kit for this quilt too!

I will announce the winner on Sunday the 8th...just happens to be another special day :)

at least in my world!

Note: if your waiting for an email from me...sorry my laptop (brand new by the way) had to be sent to the Mac big repair shop the genius bar guys at the store could not help my lap top :(

so remember when I lost all my email addresses? well thats the computer I am using right now

and I don't have addresses....

sorry......

the kit won't be the same EXACT fabrics but will have the same feel and almost all the same fabrics!