Monthly Archives: February 2015
Reverie – Finished
It’s been a busy week of finished projects here at Brooklyn Quilting Co. On Wednesday I posted the finished Snail Trails quilt, and today I have the Reverie quilt done.
I have to start with saying that I’m a little disappointed in the coloring in these photos. They don’t quite do the quilt justice and aren’t the exact true colors. In person, the colors are much more vibrant than they look in the pictures, but hopefully you get the idea. In the first blog post I did of this quilt when it was only a quilt top, those colors aren’t perfect either, but maybe a little bit better.
For the back, I made some extra blocks and did a line of them to break up the solid gray fabric.
Each block is quilted individually and has a lot of really nice texture.
I’m now working on my next project, which has to remain secret until it’s complete and sent to its owner. Let’s see how fast I can get it done!
Snail Trail – Finished
My Snail Trail quilt is done, and I’m so happy with how it turned out. The pattern, the colors, the 1930s/40s fabrics…everything about it is perfect.
I still can’t believe I found this quilt top in an antiques store for only $22. It was definitely a lucky find, but I feel like we were meant to come together!
Once I started quilting it and really worked with the fabric, I could see that it was made from old clothing. It looks to me like most of it comes from old work shirts, which makes sense given that it is likely from the 1930s or 40s.
It’s hard to see in the photos, but I ended up doing a grid-like pattern for the quilting. I stuck with the modern, straight line quilting that I like so much, but thought the grid would add a little something extra and some nice texture.
The back of this quilt is made with an Elizabeth Olwen print that I think is the perfect complement to the front. Normally I like to make my quilt backs a little scrappy or do something interesting, but in this case I went with a solid back and only used the Elizabeth Olwen print. It just seemed like that was the right call for this one.
And yes, if you notice, the turned block is still there! When I talked about the mistake in the quilt top in my previous post, someone mentioned in the comments section that a wrongly turned block or a mistake in a quilt is knows as a “spirit piece” or a “humility block.” I love this idea and I’m going to use it the next time I make a mistake in a quilt. Who’s with me?!?!?
Found: Vintage Linens
Have I told you before about my love for vintage linens? If I haven’t, they make the list of my favorite things. And they are high on the list. I think maybe us quilters naturally gravitate towards all kinds of fabric. Table linens, bed linens, any kind of linens, really, fit into that category. We like all kinds of fabric!
So I was doing a little snooping around my parents’ house when I was home over the holidays and I happened upon a couple of goodies. The first is an old tablecloth that my parents received as a wedding gift back in the 70s! My mom never had the right table size for it so it was tucked away in a drawer and still in the packaging. Unfortunate for her that she never had the right sized table, but guess who has the perfect table size now? Oh yes I do.
I call this look “Modern Granny.” Yes it’s a lot of floral, and maybe it’s not modern granny but just granny granny, but I like it anyway. The lighting in the photo is bad and it’s looking a little gray, but in person it’s a turquoise blue color. Right now this modern granny look is working for me in my apartment.
I picked up one other tablecloth over the holidays but I found it at an antiques store, not my parents’ house. It is of the same style that my pink tablecloth is, but just different enough that I had to have it.
I don’t have a name for this one but I think “Farm Table Chic” might work. It kind of reminds me of sitting around my grandma’s breakfast table at her farm when I was a kid. She would make homemade bread and jam and oh it was good.
And last but not least of my vintage linens finds, I snagged this bed sheet from my mom. It was next to the old tablecloth and also still in the packaging. She thought the bed sheet was also from the 70s.
I love collecting old bed sheets to use for the backs of quilts. I will be hanging on to this one until I make the perfect quilt top to complement the vintage sheet. I can actually see making a really modern, graphic looking quilt top to pair with it. Because they would be so opposite I think they could work really well together. Just an idea I’ve got brewing in my head!
