Tag Archives: Vintage

UPPERCASE Magazine Event at Brooklyn General Store

February 3, 2017UncategorizedBrooklyn, Feedsack, Liberty of London Tana Lawn, Uppercase Magazine, VintageBrooklyn Quilting Co.

On Wednesday, I headed to my local quilt store, Brooklyn General Store, for an event they were hosting with Janine of UPPERCASE magazine. Janine was in town to talk about her new Feed Sacks book and other fun, creative stuff.

If you remember from my recent holiday wish list, I had the Feed Sacks book on it. I didn’t get the book for Christmas, but it worked out! Wednesday was the perfect opportunity to get my hands on a copy.

I cannot wait to dig into this book. I have a goal to build my feed sack fabric stash and one day make a feed sack quilt. It’s gonna happen.

I took a few photos of the event and the gorgeous store to share with all of you. If you are ever in New York, it’s worth heading across the river to our fine borough and visiting Brooklyn General Store. I highly recommend it.

I don’t knit but I can appreciate a wall of beautiful yarn.

A bucket of vintage fabric scraps: something I can get behind.

All the heart eyes for stacks of ribbon.

You know I couldn’t leave without perusing the fabric. I so wanted to buy some of this Liberty of London, but I stayed strong and only picked up the book while I was there.

And finally, we all got a little goodie bag from UPPERCASE magazine for coming.

Thanks, Brooklyn General Store and Janine!

Half Hexagons – Finished

November 7, 2016UncategorizedDenyse Schmidt Fabric, Grandma, hexagons, Katie Jump Rope Fabric, Vintage, Vintage FabricBrooklyn Quilting Co.

The Half Hexagons quilt featuring Denyse Schmidt’s Katie Jump Rope fabric is officially done!

When I first posted the quilt top in a June blog post, I was seriously rethinking my decision to group the fabrics together by print instead of randomly distributing them throughout the quilt. I still think I probably should have randomly distributed them, but the groupings have kind of grown on me.

For the back of the quilt, I used a vintage piece of fabric I found in an old box of my grandma’s quilting supplies.

The colors, the little flowers…I think it works perfectly with the Katie Jump Rope fabric.

It’s hard to see in the images, but the quilting is really dense quilting that follows the hexagons.

So there you have it! Another Denyse Schmidt quilt in the books.

P.S. I have so much Denyse Schmidt fabric I could make quilts with only DS fabric for the next few years and never run out. Seriously.

Grandma’s Scrappy Pinwheels

July 25, 2016UncategorizedGrandma, Vintage, Vintage FabricBrooklyn Quilting Co.

Don’t you love scrappy quilts? I know I do. And so did my grandma, who was the queen of scrappy quilts and using whatever fabric you’ve got.

Today, I’m sharing another one of the quilts she made and I finished; She made the quilt top, and I put it together and did the quilting. I have to say, I love this one.

The colors are bright and happy and perfect.

I think she did a great job coordinating the fabrics and laying out all of the pinwheels, too.

It took me about a year to find the perfect fabric for the back of this quilt. I found this multi-color confetti dot fabric by Dear Stella over the holidays last year. Once I saw it, I immediately knew it was the one.

I like the modern confetti dot pattern with the vintage fabrics in the pinwheels. Plus, the colors in the confetti dot coordinate perfectly with the colors in the quilt top.

For the binding, I didn’t have to figure it out because my grandma had already taken care of that! Almost all, if not all, of the quilts my grandma has made in her life have used these little triangles for the binding. Whenever I see them, I think of her.

Also, don’t you love the polka dot border?!?!

So there you have another one of my grandma’s quilts. The other quilts of hers I’ve finished are this Vintage Fans quilt and this Applique Butterfly quilt , if you would like to read about them. I have one more quilt top left of hers to finish, but more on that one later!

Found: Vintage Linens

February 1, 2015UncategorizedAntiques, Snail Trail Quilt, VintageBrooklyn Quilting Co.

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!

Feed Sack Quilts

December 29, 2014UncategorizedAntiques, Feed Sack, Feedsack, VintageBrooklyn Quilting Co.

In the many hours I’ve spent rummaging through antique stores and flea markets, I’ve often come across old feed sack fabric for sale that I’ve been tempted to buy, but I’ve always managed to hold back because I’ve figured it is one less fabric collection I need in my life. That is until last week. I finally pulled the trigger and bought my first feed sack fabric.

If you don’t know the history of feed sacks, a quick Google search will provide loads of background information, but the brief overview is that in the mid- to late-1800s textile mills were producing cotton feed sacks for transportation of grains and other bulk goods. The feed sacks were often made with colorful prints, and thrifty farmers’ wives took advantage of the printed fabric and re-used the material for dressmaking, aprons, quilting, you name it. Craftsy has a pretty good overview of feed sack quilting you can read here.

Today, many quilters are still using vintage feed sack fabric for quilt making. I’ve thought about making a feed sack quilt for quite some time, but like I mentioned before, I’ve been holding off on buying the fabric. I could go online and buy pre-cut fat quarter assortments, but I think it will be more fun to slowly collect my own pieces. Although, I do see the value and convenience of buying from an online seller, because buying piece-by-piece is not the most affordable way to go.

The feed sacks come in pretty good sized pieces, but that leaves for a lot of extra fabric if you want to use a variety of prints in one quilt, which I do. Plus, the fabric I’ve seen has been priced from about $10 for up to about $15 a piece. That gets a little pricey if you want to use a lot of prints. So for now I plan to slowly build my collection and only buy pieces that I really like. And when I say slowly, I mean this is going to take years to collect enough fabric for a quilt, but I’m in it for the long haul!

This also gives me lots of time to plan a quilt design or, in this case, I would consider actually using a pattern. In the Craftsy story, it mentions the book Sugar Sack Quilts by Glenna Hailey who has designed quilt patterns to showcase feedsack fabric. I might have to check that out.

Have any of you ever made a feed sack quilt? Or have you ever used feed sacks in your quilting? I would love to hear about it!

Three Cheers for Antique Quilts

December 21, 2014UncategorizedAntiques, Bowties, Mom, Snail Trail, Vintage, Vintage QuiltBrooklyn Quilting Co.

Greetings from Northwest Iowa. I’m out of Brooklyn and into Iowa visiting my parents for the holidays. And while I’m here visiting, my mom and I hit up a few of the local antiques stores yesterday. Whenever I’m back home, we usually take an afternoon to stop by a few of our favorite spots in search of any hidden gems buried somewhere in a box or in a long forgotten corner of a store. Sometimes our visits are successful, and sometimes they are a bust. Yesterday was one of those successful days.

Now I didn’t go in search of antique quilts yesterday, but oh did I find them. Seriously. We saw so many old quilts. Lots of different patterns, colors, sizes, you name it. Some were in better shape than others, and the prices ranged from reasonable to lots of dollar bills. Although, as those of us who quilt know, the time and effort put into hand making a quilt justifies the higher prices.

We saw finished quilts, quilt tops that needed to be finished, quilt blocks that needed to be made into quilt tops, and even a couple of quilted pillows. I snapped a few pics of some of my favorite ones that I thought I would share.

I thought they were all pretty great.

And now here is where the day turned successful. Stuck between a bunch of old dishes and some other random items was an antique quilt top looking to be finished. At first I didn’t think it was much of anything, but as I looked more closely I realized it had potential. Oh did it ever have potential, and this beauty is now mine.

The pattern is a version of Snail Trail and the quilt measures approximately 84” x 64”. The fabric is definitely aged and there are a few spots that need a little mending, but all in all I think it has a lot of potential. I’m not sure yet what I’m going to do for the back, so if anyone has any ideas I’m all ears.

There’s more to this story, though. I bet you thought that was my big score of the day. No, no, no. At the second antiques store I spotted a pile of quilts, and in that pile I found an old Bowtie quilt priced at only $20. Whaaaat?!?!? I couldn’t believe it. How could that be?

Upon closer inspection, it looks to me that the quilt top is older but someone made it into a quilt more recently. I say that because it is machine quilted. The fabrics in the bowties are old, but the machine quilting looks more recent. I’m also wondering if the pink sashing was added when the machine quilting was done. Maybe someone discovered old bowtie blocks and put the whole thing together???

Now I don’t think the quilt was finished in the last five years, but I would guess in the last 10-20 years, maybe? That is a total guess, though. I would need someone that is an expert in these sorts of things to give me a better idea. Regardless, I really love it and I can’t believe I got it for only $20. Christmas came early around here!

Have any of you ever bought an old quilt? Or do you have any quilts that have been passed down to you?

The Brooklyn Flea Heads Back Outdoors

April 9, 2014UncategorizedBrooklyn, VintageBrooklyn Quilting Co.

Remember last fall when I visited the Brooklyn Flea at its new winter indoor location? Now that it’s spring, the Flea has headed back outside to Fort Greene and I went for a little visit last weekend.

I saw some of my favorite vendors, like the metal letters guy, and also found some new ones.

I’m still trying to find a place in my apartment to use these letters.

I don’t remember seeing this vendor last winter, but I think using old records the way he does is very cool.

I also came across a lot of antique dealers and had two great finds. Seriously, one of them was the best things I’ve ever scored at an antiques store and/or flea market.

I found this little picture that now hangs in my bedroom. The photo doesn’t do it justice, but it fits in perfectly on the wall in my room. It looks bigger in the photo but it’s actually only about 5″W. x 6″L.

And now for my new favorite possession. One of the antiques dealers had a box full of old linens. My mom was with me and started digging through the box and found the most perfect tablecloth for me. I love it. It’s pink and vintage and so me.

This was the score of a lifetime. Thankfully it was in near perfect condition and only needed a good washing. I’m in love with this tablecloth. And the best part? It was only $7!

I found the tablecloth and the little picture from the same vendor and now I’m thinking I need to go back every weekend to see what new stuff she has. It was a very good day at the Brooklyn Flea.

Dishing Up Lots of Pretties

January 10, 2014UncategorizedGrandma, Hazel Atlas Ovide, Vintage, Vintage DishesBrooklyn Quilting Co.

If there’s one thing that can compete for my love of fabric it’s pretty dishes. New, old, colorful, simple…I love them all. I especially love antique dishes and share this love with my aunt, who surprised me with an amazing gift.

Over many years, my aunt has been collecting the antique Ovide by Hazel Atlas pattern. It started a long time ago when she was cleaning out my grandma’s attic and found some pieces of Ovide. She has slowly been adding to her collection and has acquired quite a bit over the years.

When I saw her over the holidays, we sat down to dinner one evening and were using the Ovide dishes. It was then that she told me they were mine. What?!?! She had always said she was going to give me some one day but I wasn’t expecting them for many years.

I am now the proud owner of 12 place settings and some serving pieces, some of which are the original ones found in my grandma’s attic. Not only are these dishes so fun, colorful and pretty, but they hold a special meaning that I will cherish for always.

Anyone else share my love of dishes? Now my goal is to find a place in my tiny New York City kitchen to store them.