If you happened to read the update on my last post, you know that I ran into a problem on the Shoofly doll quilt for Lori’s swap. I was about 3/4 done with the quilting when I encountered a block with weak fabric. It’s not unusual to run across unstable fabric when you’re purchasing antique tops and blocks, so I try to be very careful when I’m selecting fabrics for a quilt. This time one slipped right by me. At some point in the future, I’ll probably take out all the quilting and replace the damaged block, but for now I just had to put it away and think about making a replacement quilt for the swap.
While I was pondering a design for the new quilt, I walked by my remade 1886 antique quilt which hangs in the living room. I remembered that I had a leftover strip of the sashing fabric, and thought I could make a small version of the Album quilt using reproduction Civil War fabrics. The Album block is simplified for the little quilt, but the diagonal set is just the same, and I plan to use a similar quilting pattern. The top should end up about 19″ square once it’s quilted.
I have to say that it was a nice experience working with new fabric for a change — there are so many prints to choose from, and the fabric is much easier to work with. I still love the authentic stuff, but from now on I’m going to be a lot more rigorous about testing the strength of the fabric before I include it in a quilt.
