My First Vintage Quilt Top

I am afraid I may have started something which will be hard to stop...  I have been trawling ebay and the internet looking for vintage quilt tops to buy - a new addiction perhaps.  I love the look of vintage quilts.  I don't seem to find much time to piece my own quilts but would really like to quilt some quilts for myself.  Buying a vintage quilt top would solve the need to piece my own quilts. 

While I was in Adelaide recently at the AMQF, I did a class with Pam Clarke, an American Longarm Quilter and teacher, who has quilted many vintage quilt tops.  Her view is that unless it is a blue ribbon quilt top it is better to finish it than to have it sit in a cupboard and not be used.  Apparently there are so many vintage quilt tops in America that some real bargains can still be picked up.

My first vintage quilt top is a Lone Star Quilt made in solids.  I love solid quilts and I am hoping that the quilting will eventually be a real feature.  The name of the maker was Eva Stelters and the quilt top originates from Oklahoma.  The quilt was bought from Buckboard Antique Quilts.

Perhaps it is just the perfectionist in me coming out, but I have decided that the corner squares and setting triangles are too big for the quilt causing it to not quite lie flat.  I am going to remake the corners and insert new setting triangles.  It will make the quilting much easier.  So much for my time saving theory...

I have sourced matching fabrics from Kona Solids using the Kona Solids Color Chart - it is great to be able to see the actual fabrics rather than trying to match colors on a computer screen.  As usual, the fabrics arrived promptly from The Fabric Shack. 

I am looking forward to finishing Eva's quilt - hopefully it will become a much treasured and used quilt.

Oh, my second vintage quilt top is currently on the way from America.  I have stopped myself from looking at any more vintage quilt tops on the internet ... for now.

A Parcel

I participated in Park City Girl's Blogger's Quilt Festival a few weeks ago which was fabulous.  Not only did I enjoy visiting many blogs and looking at the amazing quilts, I was also lucky enough to win a prize from one of the sponsors.  My prize was a $50 voucher from The Fat Quarter Shop.  I spent quite some time deciding what to buy and today my parcel arrived.

It is very exciting getting a parcel in the mail.  I don't have a huge fabric stash and tend to buy fabrics with a particular quilt in mind.  However, the voucher had to be spent!  I settled on a number of solid fabrics for which I have in mind some baby wholecloth quilts.  In also included a dotty fabric which I intend to be the binding.  Here are my purchases.

I have also bought some more Aurifil threads which I have recently started using on my longarm machine - they quilt up beautifully and have a lovely sheen to them.  These were bought from Always Quilting - they include some gorgeous variegated threads which should look great on the solids I have bought.

I am looking forward to making these baby quilts and will be sure to post them on my blog.

I would like to thank both Park City Girl for organising the Blogger's Quilt Festival and the Fat Quarter Shop for their generous sponsorship and their excellent service.