1930's Vintage Le Moyne Star Quilt

I have found myself collecting vintage quilt tops with the intention of quilting them.  I must have about eight quilt tops and to date had only quilted one of them.  As a result, I decided that I really needed to get one quilted to justify adding further quilt tops to my collection.

I quilted the following gorgeous 1930's Le Moyne Star quilt which I purchased in Houston in 2011 for  a mere $82USD.  The quilt measures about 68 inches square.  Here is a section of the quilt before quilting:-

I designed the quilting on my recently purchased Wacom Cintiq Tablet.  I love that you can preview quilting designs onto images of the quilt.  This was my quilting design - the final quilting only varies slightly from the original design.

I was thrilled with the final result - I love the secondary design which has been created by the quilting lines.

Some better close-ups of the quilting:-

And a single block:-

That is one quilt top down ... at least 7 to go.

Quilts in the Barn 2013

I had a wonderful time visiting Quilts in the Barn 2013 on Friday.  It was a glorious Spring day, a wonderful setting, a chance to catch up with quilting friends and a fabulous display of quilts.

The beautiful barn

 

This year's exhibition was "All About Chintz" and there were certainly some wonderful examples of Chintz quilts.  I loved the two quilts which greeted you from above as you walked into the barn.

  

 



The following stunning quilt caught my eye - it has a beautiful chintz  centre surrounded by a plain border.  The quilting on this quilt is simply amazing.  Unfortunately I don't know whose incredible work this is.

I spotted the quilt I only finished quilting last week surrounded by beautiful reproduction fabrics for sale.

 

Mary Koval from Mary Koval Antique Quilts was this year's guest at Quilts in the Barn.  Mary is an American quilter who has emerged as a leading expert in the field of American quilts and antique fabrics.  Mary had brought with her a collection of vintage quilt tops, fabrics and quilt blocks for sale.  The following is a quilt top which came home with me - it will be treasured and hopefully quilted.  Does anyone know what this quilt block is called?

 

 

Thank you Linda for a wonderful exhibition.  I am sure it will have been a great success and you will have raised much needed funds for Breast Cancer Research.  I will look forward to Quilts in the Barn 2014!

 

  

Vintage Quilts of Houston Quilt Festival

It is over a week now since Mandy and I returned from our trip to Houston.  We had a wonderful time - the events certainly lived up to their reputation.  The quilt exhibition was wonderful and the standard of quilts amazingly high.  We had some fabulous longarm machine quilting classes and the booths at Quilt Festival were endless...

I must admit, however, that my favourite part were the vintage and antique quilts.  Unfortunately, we don't see many vintage quilts in Australia - we just don't have the history.  I was pleasantly surprised that there were some 8 or so booths selling vintage quilts, quilt tops, fabrics, orphan blocks and sewing notions - by the end of Quilt Festival, several of the booth owners knew me by name.

Amongst the vintage quilt booths with their wonderful treasures were:-

Cindy's Antique Quilts

Mary Koval Antique Quilts

I think my favourite purchase from Houston is the very green vintage 1930's Double Wedding Ring quilt top which I bought from Cindy's Vintage Quilts.  It is shown here by Cindy.  Eventually I intend to quilt this gorgeous quilt top.

The vintage applique quilt top below was bought by my friend Mandy, also from Cindy's Antique Quilts.

I did buy another vintage quilt top - a 1930's Eight Pointed Star Quilt shown here together with the Double Wedding Ring Quilt.

I spent the last day of Quilt Festival trying to shop with "fresh eyes" after Kathy from Patchwork House showed us some of her purchases.  Whilst I had been looking at the vintage quilts, I had completely overlooked the vintage sewing notions.  I managed to buy a lovely collection of spools, a Dutch retractable tape measure, a needle holder, thimble and needles - some great treasures.

It is back to the present and reality for now - working hard to finish numerous quilts before Christmas.

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.