Replica of 1862 Crib Quilt and Why I Made It

Sometimes people ask me who I am making a quilt for.....and I feel guilty when I say I'm just making it for the pleasure of making it.  I see quilts on the Internet that I love, and think......I'd love to have that quilt, but it's not possible.....But I can make my own version of it!


So that's why I make quilts - to have my own version of some of the lovely ones I see on the Internet.

When I was working on the snowball blocks for the quilt I blogged about last week, (Here) there were lots of small triangles left over from the corner cuts.  I asked the other members of The Churn Dashers to give me their leftovers too, if they were throwing them away.  So I set out to find a quilt that would use lots of small half square triangles.  I found this one (Here) and loved it.  I love the borders and how they are added.

Screen Shot from internet of the Quilt I like:

Then, after I started making it, I discovered that Barbara Brackman had posted about this quilt on her blog. (Here)  and again (Here) and again (Here)  Very interesting!  Barbara Brackman is a quilt historian and her blog posts are very informative.  Was it made in 1862?  We will never know for sure.  The original sold for $5,938 at auction, and measures 32.25" by 38.25".

Here's the story of my progress in making this quilt:

I started by printing out a copy of the quilt, and cutting the picture of the triangles into 5 sections, to concentrate on one section at a time.  The original quilt had notes somewhere that said the hsts were 1 inch, but when I did the math, it would make the quilt smaller than the original, and when I looked at making it with hsts that were 1.25 inch finished, the quilt would be slightly larger than the original.  I suspect the original had triangles that varied from 1 inch to 1.25 inch finished size.  Since the triangles I had left over were able to be trimmed to 1.25 inch size, I went with that size.  My completed quilt measures 38" by 45".

Here are the top two sections on my design wall:

Picture of the back:

While making small triangles, I press everything open to make it a little less bulky with so many seams.  

When I had the four largers sections of hsts together, I added the red, white and blue borders on three sides.  Then I made the "flags" of red and white stripes, and appliqued stars on the blue sections:

One final seam would connect the "flags" end to the four hsts section.  But I had a problem in that the "flags" end section was narrower than the hst section.  I remade the flag portions and made the red and white stripes a little wider. But then the opposite problem appeared: the "flag" end section was wider than the main hst section.  I decided to remove the blue stripe on the top and the bottom of the main hst section, and replace it with a much wider blue stripe, and then after the "flag" end section was attached, I could whack off the blue stripe part that was wider then the "flag" section just attached.  I hope you are following me on this.  It was a hit and miss way to do it, but it worked.  I was not about to make the two flags a third time.

Here is a picture of the complete top showing the blue stripes at top and bottom that are a little bit wider than they were on the completed quilt.  Picture taken just before I cut them down to the size of the "flag" end.  

As you can see the blue stripe on the sides of the quilt are wider than the end blue stripes, but after trimming them, it wasn't too much different.  

I embroidered 1862 in the corner of one flag to match the original, and then added my label on the back with January, 2016 as the date the quilt was made.

My replica was finished last week, and has now been sent off to be displayed at the Mid-Atlantic Quilt Festival in Hampton, VA.  The show is open February 25 - 28, 2016. so if you are in the area, go and say hello to it.  I will not be able to be there.

It was a lot of fun to make, and I look forward to hanging it in my house for patriotic holidays, once it gets back to me. 

Working on Several Projects This Week

Like many other quilters, I enjoy working on several projects at once.  I don't worry about it, it's just the way I work.  In grade school my report card would have a notation on it...."Judy enjoys working on several things at once"....which was a nice way of saying I was often reading a book when we were doing other work.

These two have been moving along toward the finish line:

The four patches were in my stash, and were actually part of another project, but they are being used here to make this patriotic redwork into a crib sized baby quilt.  I auditioned some red and white hst's, but they seemed to overpower the redwork even more than the four patches do.  Redwork looks best to me when it doesn't have to compete with anything else.  

This next quilt is for a friend who is having some health issues, and when I had the middle finished, through the small hsts part,  I showed it to her and gave her the choice of whether she wanted it finished as a table topper, or finished as a couch quilt to snuggle under.  She chose a quilt, so I am adding consecutive pieced parts around the outside to make it big enough to snuggle under.  The outside border of triangles is not sewn down yet, and I will probably add another row of them.  The four inch square pieced border makes the quilt 36 x 36 inches, and the next round of 3" hsts will make it 42" x 42".  I will keep adding rounds until I feel it is big enough.  

She likes pink, and this quilt is in softer colors than I usually work with - it's delicate blues and pinks with beautiful roses.  It reminds me of some of the beautiful wallpaper in bedrooms years ago.  It has a different feel as I make it, and I think it's because I have sent up so many prayers for Michelle during her illness.  

The Instagram pictures of a quilt from the Spring issue of Quiltmania has caught my attention.  The quilt is "My Small World" and is made up of tiny pieces.  It's designed by Jen Kingwell, an Australian quilter who designs fabric for Moda. 

There is a group doing a quilt-a-long, and I am tempted to join in.  I love tiny pieced blocks, and this quilt is full of them.  Lots of 1" by 1" bits.

The above picture is from the internet, and I am not sure if Jen Kingwell is one of the ladies holding up the quilt.  If you want to see what the buzz is about, google "My Small World Quilt" and you can see several pictures about it.

Here's a close-up from Jen Kingwell's blog:

She has little interesting bits about her world, such as a square with the Sydney Opera House.  It would be fun to put in bits of my "world", that is bits from places that mean a lot to me....the St. Louis Arch instead of France's Eiffel Tower.    Right now, I've cut some sky pieces and have them laid out, ready to sew together.

What are other quilter's working on this week?  I'm going over to Judy Laquidara's blog to find out.  (Here)

Basket Blocks, Bears, and Simplified Celtic Solstice

Last week, I put Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt, Celtic Solstice, away.  But I forgot to put it out of my head.  I was still thinking about it, and got it out again.  I moved some parts around, eliminated some parts, and now have a quilt design that I'm finally ready to construct into blocks.  Here it is on the design wall today:

Notice that no chevrons were used in the making of this photograph!  I finally figured out that the yellow and orange were the parts that didn't agree with me, and I took them out, substituting a red in the four patches and a 3 inch red print square in the center of the alternate blocks.  I like it because it keeps Bonnie's design large circles, and the colors are much more to my taste.  And it is much more simple.  I'm so glad I have settled upon a design.  Now to get it assembled.  I could call it Simplified Celtic Solstice.  The chevrons are in a shoebox, to be included in a future quilt on down the road.

While I was figuring out Celtic Solstice, I was making some basket blocks, which will finish at 6 inches.

They are fun to make, and I'm using civil war reproductions and shirting.

Since this blog has veered away from the "small quilt and doll quilt" subject matter lately, I am bringing it back to center to talk about a crib quilt that I bought while I was in Shipshewana, IN last year.  It measures 41 inches by 52 inches.

Here are closeup pictures of the three appliqued bears:

It was made from a kit from Lee Wards, probably in the 1950's - 1960's.  The little bears with their umbrellas are so cute.  I love it! 

It's Monday linkup time at Judy Laquidara's blog (Here) to see what others have on their design walls today.