Design Wall Monday - January 23, 2023

 Good Morning Quilters!

This is a happy day!  My long time UFO of redwork squares is a completed quilt top!  I finished the last corner embroidery yesterday.  

Here are some pictures. My blocks finish at 10 inches square and there are 8 across and 8 down, with borders that each finish at 7 inches.  So the quilt will be 94” by 94”.  Benjamin Biggs Wedding quilt is on the design wall, so these pictures are taken with it on the floor.  I will post a picture of all of it when it is a completed quilt.

I am thinking I want minimal quilting on this quilt after looking at pictures of this type of quilt on the internet.  Most have no quilting that is very evident.  In fact, I found this information:  

It wasn't until the turn of the century that women began to use redwork embroidery for bedcoverings. Preprinted squares ready to embroider were sold. Because they originally cost only about a penny apiece they were commonly called penny squares. 

The quilt blocks used for redwork quilts ranged from six to ten inches across. They were usually embroidered then sewn together without any sashing between the blocks. Often a feather or cross-stitch was used to cover the seam line. Later a red or red print sashing was sometimes used. Some of these bedcoverings were quilted while others were simply lined without batting and then tied at the corners of each block.

From the website :  Womenfolk.com

I am getting out another redwork UFO this week to finish up.  This one will be a child’s quilt featuring Curious George.   I have 14 squares made and when I made them, all the alternate squares I was thinking of putting with them seemed to outshine them.   I now believe the quilt shouldn’t have alternate squares, and should be sewn together without sashing or alternate blocks.  Some projects have to be UFOs until I decide the best way to complete them.  lol

Here’s one block:

Our son loved the Curious George books when he was a little boy.  I think children like to see the little monkey get into trouble, and it always turns out ok.  I like the  old quilt idea of decorative stitching on each of the block joins, and I am going to try that on this one.  Maybe a stitch like this one:

What have you started….or finished……or moved along the way to completion this week?  Please join in the Design Wall Linky Party below and show us.  Thanks to all of you who participate.  It is so much fun to read your blogs and look at your lovely pictures.

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