Posts Written On September 2009

These block pieces were purchased on ebay in 2002.  The fabric scraps were hand stitched to a foundation of 1943 newspaper pages.  The stitches were not as close as I would have liked, but I couldn’t figure out how to go over her stitching.  In the end I just removed the newspaper — then soaked, pressed and re-cut the pieces.  The original shape would have created a kind of rounded square with the four muslin pieces, but I decided to cut the curve more deeply which makes a nice circle when the muslin pieces are joined– the baseball.  I machine stitched around the outside of each piece before hand stitching the muslin pieces into the curves.

Because I was a little worried about the structural integrity of her stitching, I decided to do a fairly close quilting design with horizontal and vertical lines. The binding and backing are the same cadet blue fabric. I like the way it turned out, and the stitching has held up just fine. It’s actually pretty gratifying to complete another quilter’s unfinished project.

Crazy Baseball Quilt
Unknown Quilter, 1943, and
Martha Dellasega Gray, 2005
hand pieced, hand quilted
57″ x 81″

I wish I could remember where I saw this quilt pattern. It must have been in one of my books, but now I can’t find it, of course — this is always a problem for me. The original quilt may have had 2 petals, because I vaguely remember my husband telling me it would look better with another petal — advice I ignored as you can see. If anyone is familiar with this pattern, please let me know.

This quilt was made in 2002 — it was the first doll quilt I made for my sister, Sally. The flowers and the prairie points are vintage dress fabrics and the green is also vintage. It is all hand stitched except for the prairie points which I sewed on the machine because they were a little bulky. The hand quilting consists of an outline around the flowers, diagonal quilting in the white, and a little motif in the green triangles. I think this is the smallest doll quilt I have made.

All three of these little quilts are displayed on the walls of my sister’s bedroom.

Flower Garden Applique Doll Quilt
Martha Dellasega Gray, 2002
hand pieced & appliqued, hand quilted
13″ x 17″

There are many quilt patterns referred to as RPTPP — two of the most common are the one that looks like Orange Peel and this design, which is essentially a set of 4 Drunkard’s Path blocks. I first saw this quilt in one of my books from the 70’s — Once Upon a Quilt — by Celine Blanchard Mahler. I’ve never made a large version of this pattern, but I loved the quilt and thought it would be fun in a miniature size.

The original quilt is dated 1890 and, although some of the fabric choices are kind of strange, I was really drawn to it. I tried to pattern my quilt after the original and wanted it to have that same funky look. The fabrics are mostly from the 30’s – 50’s, but there are a some that are much older, including a couple of mourning prints — it’s a real hodgepodge. The green border fabric is a reproduction.

This is another quilt given to my sister, Sally. It is entirely hand pieced and is hand quilted in a diagonal grid in the blocks and a 3 row scallop in the border. The blocks are 2 1/2″ finished.

Trivia: Around this time I made a second quilt in the same size and pattern (with different vintage fabrics) and sold it on ebay — my first and only attempt at selling something I’d made. The quilt sold for $25 and the buyer was happy — “THE best doll quilt I ever bought from a miniature quilt designer!!! GORGEOUS!!” — so that was nice. I figured out that if I went into the doll quilt making business, I would be working for about $.50 an hour.

Rob Peter to Pay Paul Doll Quilt
Martha Dellasega Gray, 2003
hand pieced, hand quilted
19″ x 21 1/2″

Rob Peter to Pay Paul Quilt
Sarah J. Hann, 1890
Manchester, Maryland

This little quilt was made for my sister, Sally, in 2004. The basket design is based on a USPS 13¢ stamp series issued on March 8, 1978. I think I remember that the 4 stamps were connected with all of the handles toward the middle, which is the set you usually see for this block. I noticed that when my 4-block units were connected, the white areas formed a design that I think is distracting. When I drafted the block, I changed the design just a bit because the base triangles seemed too big and the handle too thick which I thought made the basket look sort of squatty. The reduction of the base triangles enlarged the white pieces and resulted in the rectangular areas you see in the completed quilt. I’m conflicted about this — although I prefer my basket,  I think the white areas look better in the original basket design.

The fabric for this little quilt is from some vintage bow tie blocks purchased on ebay. There were wonderful 30’s dress prints in the ties and coordinating solids in the 2 background pieces. I took them apart to make an appliqued butterfly quilt, and there was enough fabric left to cut 2 tiny baskets from each print (the second basket is going into a larger quilt). The border triangles are cut from vintage scraps using the same template as the small basket triangles. The finished block size is 3″ and the quilt was all hand stitched — the baskets are pieced with an appliqued handle.

Postage Stamp Basket Doll Quilt
Martha Dellasega Gray, 2004
hand pieced & appliqued, hand quilted
20″ x 20″