Vintage Re-done

As a result of having some extra time on my (Kara) hands thanks to the lockdowns, I decided I would make all three of our children quilts. I had intentions of doing that for them about 20 years ago, but only succeeded in making one child her own quilt (you can read about that HERE). The first two quilts had been finished and quilted and so I had one left to make. A long time ago, I purchased an old quilt top in a thrift store and I had yet to do anything with it. The top was probably from the 60's and was a color-filled amalgamation of scraps, with no apparent rhyme or reason as to the color placement. That didn't matter to our oldest as she has a love for all things vintage and this quilt top spoke to her.

Before I knew better, I washed the quilt top when I brought it home—big mistake. Some of the fabrics were not typical quilting cottons and a few of them frayed through the seams. When I decided to re-make this for my daughter, I knew that surgery would be involved and that not all the blocks would make it. What started out as a 30 block quilt, would have to be reduced to 20. In order to neaten things up a bit, I knew I would have to trim the blocks to a uniform size. The downside to that is that I would lose the points on the center square, but I just told myself that it would become a "snowball".

The aftermath of un-sewing

The trimmed blocks that made the cut.

The next decision to be made was what to do with the sashing. My hands had gotten sore from all the un-stitching, so taking apart all the cornerstones was not going to happen. Since the sashing had to be trimmed to the new block size, I didn't hesitate to cut out the cornerstones, but this meant I had to replace it with something. I remembered that I had a box of gingham that I received from my Grandma before she passed. Kaitlin, our daughter, was fortunate to know and love her Great-Grandma, so using this fabric added a special twist to this re-make.

The gingham cornerstones

I dug into the box of gingham again for the backing and there was a green and white piece that my grandmother had already sewn into a backing, so it was pretty apparent that it was meant to be the backing for this quilt. My long-arm friend Lisa and I decided on a great all-over leaf pattern for the quilt, and Lisa did a fantastic job completing the journey of this crazy, vintage quilt top!

This hot pink!

Gotta love a good paisley!

One of my favorite fabrics.

What was a discarded item, ended up being transformed into a unique beauty full of special details that will speak to the new owner. I don't know anything about the original maker, but I hope she would love to see what became of her quilt top.

A "Twisted" Exhibit!

As Teri mentioned last week, we had a great time down in Williamsburg, Virginia, at the Academy of Appliqué. Not only did we teach, but we were able to take a little time beforehand to go to the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival in Hampton, Virginia. It's a great show with various exhibits and some stunning quilts. 

One exhibit that caught our attention was the Twisted exhibit, by Mary Kerr. We love anything vintage and these quilts were vintage with a twist, thus the name. All the quilts in the exhibit were created by combining pieces of vintage textiles with modern quilting and design. The result was a wonderful collection of quilts that embraced the new but honored the old. We were able to chat with Mary at the show and hear how her love for vintage textiles and modern quilting inspired her to design the quilts in the collection. Her book, Twisted—Modern Quilts With a Vintage Twist tells more about how these beautiful quilt were created. The book is definitely well worth reading, as Mary explains how she came up with the design for the top, and then each quilter tells how they created the quilting designs. We of course had to have it for our library!

Mary explaining how the quilt was created.

A great read!

There are more quilts to be discovered in the book but here are a just a few from the exhibit.

Dahlias in the Snow
Created and quilted by JoAnne Blade and Kim Diamond

Flower Power
Created by Mary Kerr and quilted by Linda Thielfoldt

Detail: Flower Power

A Moment in Time
Created by Mary Kerr and quilted by Deb Levy

Pumpkin Harvest
Created by Mary Kerr and quilted by Gina Perkes

Z is for Zoey
Created by Mary Kerr and quilted by Karen McTavish

Detail: Z is for Zoey

Charlie Brown
Created by Mary Kerr and quilted by Pam Clarke

Ojo de DiosCreated by Mary Kerr and quilted by Candace West

Pretty in Pink
Created by Mary Kerr and quilted by Brandy Rayburn

Detail: Pretty in Pink

Stirring the Coffee
Created by Mary Kerr and quilted by Kelly Cline

Wild Goose Chase
Created by Mary Kerr and quilted by Cathy Franks

Detail: Wild Goose Chase

Blueberry Bars
Created by Mary Kerr and quilted by Sue Patten

Detail: Blueberry Bars

Let Me Count the Ways
Created by Mary Kerr and quilted by Debbie Kauffman

Detail: Let Me Count the Ways

Homespun
Created by Mary Kerr and quilted by Donna Ferrill James

Detail: Homespun

At the end of the book, Mary shares some tips and tricks for working with vintage textiles. I (Kara) was very happy to read about working with old blocks, as I have collected quite a few. I have only added to my collection since the post, A Collection of Antique Blocks. With Mary's book, I now have a little more inspiration to do something with my blocks. If only there were more time in a day...

Double T Quilt Blocks

Hand-pieced hexagon diamonds.

Antique Ocean Waves blocks.

 Hopefully these quilts will inspire you as they have inspired us!