The quilt for Baby Doll is finally finished. BD is the youngest daughter of my blog friend, Ann at Nifty Needle, and she needed a “blanket” for her doll. I think she is going to like this sunny yellow quilt made with 30s scraps. The prints in the top and the yellow fabric are vintage…
Today I didn’t sew at all — I was too busy cutting out and putting together these fun Cubees from CyberDrone at deviantART. These are some of the decorations for my son’s family birthday party next weekend. It’s kind of silly (since Elliott is turning 28), but for years I have done either a GI…
This block was a real fiasco — what was I thinking? Finally, it’s done and now I like it very much — it has a lighter feel to it and looks better with the other two finished blocks in the Ann Champion Series. Of the three blocks so far, this one was the most difficult…
This is the third block in the Ann Champion Series, and it was the most time-consuming so far. The large interior pieces can be machine stitched, but all of the smaller curved pieces must be hand stitched. The center circle is appliqued and the muslin outer piece is machine sewn. The outer edge of small…
Because I am still working on the embroidered Christmas quilt top, the Baby Doll quilt top and the latest Ann Champion block, I don’t have any photos right now — hopefully very soon, though. While we’re waiting for me to finish something, here are some cute illustrations from one of my old copies of John…
Here is Laura Wheeler mail order transfer, #2307, dated 1939 — a project for sewing and embroidering a laundry bag with an appliqued and embroidered pocket for hankies. On the original transfer, the HANKIES lettering was not on the pocket so you could iron it separately onto the applique fabric. Probably most of you (with…
There must be a name for this pattern, but I’m too lazy to look it up. I wanted to design something that would take advantage of the tiny, rectangular Lord Baltimore pieces. This is a present for the youngest daughter of my friend Ann at Nifty Needle. Ann made a darling doll-sized pillow and pillowslip…
It’s time to share some quilting, but I don’t have much to show today. The third block in the Ann Champion series is drafted and cut, and I hope to put it together this week. I am also making use of the tiny Lord Baltimore quilt pieces to make a doll quilt for a special…
This is the largest coloring book I own — 492 pages and only a few are colored. Coloring books from the 30s and 40s rarely have a theme, and the drawings are usually done by several different artists. It seems like Whitman and other publishers would just combine a group of pages by various artists,…
This is the second block in the group of four — affectionately known as the Ann Champion Series. Even though this block has many more pieces than Cog Wheels, it’s actually much easier to piece and most of it can be done on the machine. Here is the drafted block which I re-sized to 14″….
This is one of my very favorite vintage paint/coloring books — I love the subject and the style of the drawings by Mary Alice Stoddard. The best pictures are of boys and girls doing everyday activities — like quilting! Because there are 20 girls and 20 boys, you could make two darling little quilts. I…
Some quilters like to make their templates the finished size so they can mark the sewing line on their quilt pieces. I don’t do this — after adding a scant 1/4″ around each template, I draw the cutting line on the fabric and then just eyeball the seam allowance when stitching the pieces together. Because…
This quilt pattern is the first of four requested by Ann Champion. Since I still can’t sit for very long, I drafted this on a board while lying on the couch. I’ll tell you what — it’s sort of tricky to use a compass when you’re lying down. I left some of the extra lines…
Thank you for your concern about my stupid injury. I am moving around a little better now, but still can’t sit or stand for very long. I did manage to get up and take a few photos today for the vintage fabric gallery. Although the size of my scraps varies wildly, I decided to take…