Sometimes you just have to have fun and play with those holiday prints!  I wish I had some more of the fun halloween prints out there , skeletons, witches, etc but I worked with what I had and of course added a few repros in there (you know I just had to!) and today I will sew this little quilt together.

Do you like Halloween?  would you like to make a little quilt like mine?
I cut a few extra kits for gifts and one to use as a giveaway....
so let me know if you would like to win, I will pick a winner in a few days

My favorite quilt (this week!) from the Gloucester County Historical Society antique quilt exhibit.

It wasn't just the amazing design, or the incredible workmanship , or that the quilt made me gasp when I turned the corner and saw this quilt.....it was all about the fabrics!  This quilt was made prior to 1843 when it was presented as a birthday gift.  Supposedly it wasn't quilted till 1876 .  This quilt is in the NJ book on page 95 if you want to read more about it.  I was and still am in awe over the fabrics .  Knowing that the quilt was made in 1843 and prior it was amazing to see the fabrics and know that they are early 1800 fabrics just really impressed me.  LOOK at those colors!  I loved her combination of fabrics in the blocks and of course note where she had to sew 2 fabrics or 3 fabric scraps together to make the piece big enough for the piece she needed.  

for me this quilt is a masterpiece and the reason I need to go back and see this quilt again!   

Its a wild goose chase block, or a variation of one that we know today.  

lancaster blue , turkey reds, poison green setting blocks does it get any better then this???

can you see why I am still dreaming about this quilt????

 note how she pieced the red pieces together....red was red she just sewed the scraps together to make the piece big enough for what she needed.  I love finding this in antique quilts.  funny how I love this but instead of doing this myself  today I will just go on the internet and find more of the fabric or reach out to friends and ask/beg for more !  maybe i need to let go  a bit more?

 notice the background piece on the top of this block!

 oh I would have a hard time putting a plaid in my quilt like this !  BOLD!!!! but it looks wonderful.

check out my previous posts to  see more antique quilts and read about the exhibit
if your anywhere near Woodbury NJ I highly recommend a trip over there to see these beautiful quilts.

Continuing with my visit to the Gloucester County Historical Society Museum, see my original post .
Here are a few more quilts,  think scrappy!  its all about the fabrics isn't it???
I just love this postage stamp quilt , 1" squares , 11,664 squares . An Amazing quilt.
It was such a beautiful quilt. I wish it was opened up and hanging for us to see, I can only imagine how graphic it was with the red  solid diagonal rows , stunning.

the next quilt is in the NJ Quilts 1777 to 1950 Contributions to an American Tradition, the documentation book .
I found this quilt so interesting to see in person, they used grey as a neutral, which seems to be a big trend right now!, and a tan/caramels on the other side.  The quilt is beautiful and I was thrilled to see it in person after studying it for years in the book, yes that page is earmarked for me to make a quilt inspired by this one.

someday.!  Look at the center a bit different then the way we usually make this style quilt today.  I will have to recreate mine like she did , Its what makes the quilt interesting to me..
did you notice the center was elongated?
Here is another scrappy quilt which was another great fabric study...

It was such a joy to see these antique quilts in person if your anywhere near Woodbury NJ make the trip.  Tell Kathy I said hi!   I have decided to go back I need to see the quilt I will blog about next again.  I need to take more pictures of the fabrics in it.  I was just in awe of her fabric combinations....have I spiked your interest?

 I was at my friends and she had this antique little quilt hanging in her sewing room.  As soon as I saw it I thought of these two fabrics I had at home.  You know its always about the fabrics right?

I know you know what happened I just had to make that little quilt as soon as I got home!
ok the next morning but I pulled all the fabric that night and the next day I made my version of her little quilt this week.  Pretty similar with the fabric choices, having the same feel is what I always go for it doesn't have to be exact for me.  My version will always remind me of the antique and that is what makes me happy.
Now if I was really brave I would give this a bath in RIT dye like Barb does....that would age it quickly.

In case you want to make your own
the squares are 2.5"finished , the top is approx 15" square

The other day I made a trip to the Gloucester County Historical Society Museum in Woodbury NJ

to view the antique quilt exhibit currently on display.  I am so glad I went the quilts were amazing.

It was well worth the trip and if your anywhere near this Museum or even if you have to drive a few hours like I did  make the time to go see this exhibit you won't be disappointed.  I loved that I was able to see quilts that I have admired in the New Jersey Quilts 1777 to 1950 quilt documentation book in person.  ( a must have book if your interested in antique quilts btw!)

Carolyn emailed me and said you MUST go you will love it.  She was right!  Carolyn blogged about the exhibit as well.  My next few posts will be about the exhibit.  I am going to focus on the fabrics that caught my attention and the incredible display of sewing tools through out the exhibit.  I have never seen this many sewing tools in a museum before, it was incredible.  My love of sewing tools comes from admiring my friend Judy's  extensive collection.

 can you imagine having to make your own measuring tape?  Yes you can see the hand written numbers on this homemade measuring tape!

 look at the pin cushion I have seen quite a few of these lately on blogs where people are making them again.  just look at that  red appliquéd block wouldn't you love to have a bolt of that turkey red?  I WOULD! and speaking of turkey reds ah yes I would love a few bolts of these too please!  And that poison green....don't you wish the fabric companies would print more of these fabrics?

 I LOVED this quilt the blocks were just beautiful and fun to see the one block on the bottom was a maroon instead of turkey red like the rest of the blocks, hmmm, wonder if she was a rebel in the group?
Isn't this a beautiful appliqué block?

beautiful chintz fabric , so well preserved , loved looking at all the fabrics in this quilt

ok another fun block in a quilt, hmmm chrome yellow with all these other fabrics, makes you wonder why?  but then again look above it , lancaster blue , these two blocks are in the center of the quilt just where the pillow is folded, not hidden off to the side, just makes you think doesn't it?  

Another interesting quilt with wonderful fabrics to look at.  I love blocks like this where they blend together rather then contrast.  Always makes you look at these blocks!  I have learned over the years from studying antique quilts these are what make scrappy quilts interesting to me, so I have adopted this blended look blocks in my quilts as a result

I must still in my red and white phase! (or could it be I am wishing I was going to the Quilts in the Barn red and white quilt exhibit soon?) I whipped up this little quilt after I finally finished sewing my large tumbler quilt I started back in July, check out the post about this quilt and the inspiration for it.

Its amazing how much smaller it gets when you sew it together! notice the difference?

These two little quilts will be sent to Lori to do her magic on and make the quilts beautiful then donate in honor of her Mom to AAQI

its so nice to be able to help in some small way.

Off to finish another UFO , I am determined to get a few more done before starting a new project...

hmmm how long do you think this will last????

Here is Betsy's new line Wrappers. Beautiful fabrics and oh its so nice to have a few more mourning prints (very hard to find when your looking for them so one of the fabrics I buy when I see them) Betsy described them in her blog post here
Here are my favorites from the line...ah yes I would love a bolt of each! I am starting to lean towards buying shirtings that are white , yes I even surprised myself! these are wonderful for me and that blue fabric is my favorite color blue, just love this one....

I think a blue and white quilt will have to be made with that one!
I had this little quilt pattern out Speck by Miss Rosie's Quilt Co, aka Carrie Nelson!

I was going to make a scrappy one and when I saw these two new fabrics together just love this brown! I had to whip up a little quilt that eventually will go to AAQI

It was so nice to not have to think at all about making this little quilt, I find Carrie's patterns so easy to follow and so complete all the way down to which way to press so your seams match up easily....my kind of pattern :)

yes I pulled lots of fabrics to make Speck, for little quilts I start with my charm packs and then I go to my stash piles of squares I cut from the stash and left over projects so much easier then pulling out piles of fabric from the closets.....

here is what I have so far....so fun to revisit old favorites a benefit of shopping in the stash!

yes another speck quilt is in my future!

I picked up my quilt from Lorre recently after she did a wonderful job machine quilting it for me

I thought I was going to hand quilt it then decided to have her custom quilt it. I had her put a feathered wreath in each block. You can read about this quilt back on this post I did in April.
I had the sashing just line quilted from each side. I love that look.
Here you can see the quilting on the back of each block. I hope to get the binding on this quilt today. Yes I am still trying to catch up on bindings!

I have been thinking about this quilt a lot lately, trying to decide what to do in the white squares in the center. You would expect to see signatures in it. I am thinking about putting dates and places there that are important to me. Then I thought oh maybe I should put names in there of people that are important to me, People that had have a positive influence on me in my life as well as quilters that have inspired me.

any thoughts? what would you do? have you thought of or made a quilt and did something like this and if so are you still happy with it today?

I just want to say thanks for everyone that checked up on me the past few weeks.

sorry for the blog vacation I guess I just needed a break and well life gets in the way sometimes. Have been busy with a lot of things but with this weather in the 70's after such a horribly hot summer here on the east coast I am ready to start quilting like crazy again!!!!!

will be back to blog reading and commenting this week as well , missed the quilting inspiration and seeing what you all are up to as well!