The Stash Hit The Road

Check out the box labels

Got Fabric?
Yes...and it's moving.  Except for the sub-stash, it's with me.


We have fabric, fabrick and...more fabric in boxes.  The packers didn't quite 'get it' but they were good sports.


The house is sold, the movers packed and loaded the household and it's gone to storage for now.


We did have a few things to move other than fabric.
Kitchen items, furniture....but that's not as fun as fabric.

Roxy peeking from her backseat travel 'nest'

Precious things were loaded into the cars.

This included the furry types - our little old Roxy, 13 years and hanging in with us.  She's always loved a good road trip.

Many quilts and needlework tools came in the car with us.

DH has a stash of wine and port that also came along for the ride.

Utah 

The drive was beautiful.

Blue skies, winding roads and majestic mountains.

At the end of the day a rainbow reminding us of the good times in our future.  We will miss our good friends in California and look forward to making new friends in Colorado.  I'm sure we will have company!

Our new home will mean a new sewing room setup with more space.  For now I have several projects with me so I'll be busy until we get into the new house.

Stay tuned....

Have a great week - travel safe if you're on the road!

Carolyn Miller Collection Part 3

Still more pictures...Collection of Carolyn Miller

On Exhibit at The Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum through July 28.

"Dazzling Domestics:  Late 19th Century Pennsylvania Quilts from the Collection of Carolyn Miller"

What do you see in the border?
Scissors, crossed spoons?

Framed Medallion 86" x 95"  c.1870 Millerville -  Lancaster County, PA
"The pieced center medallion is surrounded by a saw tooth border and concentric frames of various patches.
The border fabric is turned to the back for binding.
Backing is gray/brown with pink ovals.  The name Amanda S. Dietrich is stamped on three light patches."  

Folded Indigo Star

Pieced Sampler 83" x 83"  c. 1870
"The center has a man's shoe, a woman's shoe, a cross and a heart.
Could this be a wedding quilt?
The backing is a tan printed lace on two opposing sides.
The binding is back to front on three sides.  The top is knife edge."

Zig zag and a large hand quilted border

Hearts on red - how perfect!

Thanks for looking at Carolyn's collection in the last three posts.  I didn't give a 'spoiler alert" because who can ever see an antique quilt to often or too close?  Besides, I didn't show everything in the exhibit.  When it travels your way you'll get to explore the surprise backings, maybe discover a little chintz and how about the various binding techniques...

Have a great weekend!

Carolyn Miller Collection Part 2

And the beauty continues....

Still the Collection of Carolyn Miller.

Photos taken with permission at The Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum.

Where I could, I've included details from the labels at the exhibit.

Close up of block in the botanical sampler

Crossed Tulips 91" x 91" c. 1870
"The quilt has flying geese sashing.  The backing is pieced bars design with
 blue border fabric alternating with
a black, white and pink print.
The border fabric is turned to the back for binding .
Quilting lines, marked in pencil still remain."

Feathered Star

Feathered Star detail

Note the urns in the corners
Outer border motifs along binding edge

Double Nine Patch (Postage Stamp size) Mennonite
80" x 80"  c.1880
"Two alternating blocks.  One has the small nine-patches in the X position
the other has them in the O spaces.
Brown print backing was turned to the front for binding"

Nine Patch close up

Princess Feather Circle  78" x 78"  c. 1860
Lebanon County PA
"The maker must have made one princess feather and declared "No More!"
There is an oval stamp on the tan border that is printed on the back of the fabric.
It can be read with a mirror "Bleached and finished for Hill Manfg Co Lewiston ME" 

There's more...but I'll save those for another post.

Link to Part One

Link to NW PA Quilt Study Group HERE

Link to Mount Joy Quilt Study Group HERE

Link to Info on Carolyn's Texas visit HERE and HERE

Have a great weekend!

Carolyn Miller Collection Part 1

I had the good fortune to see
"Dazzling Domestics: Late 19th Century Pennsylvania Quilts from the Collection of Carolyn Miller" at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum.   (Golden Colorado)
I was sorry I missed her gallery talk but hope to meet her one day.  The collection is stunning.

So...few words in this post - lots of pictures.

The quilts are all in spectacular condition.

76 x 85 c.1850
"The birds on branches have embroidered eyes.  The top of the quilt, probably where the pillows would cover it, was intentionally left plain.  A variety of leaf designs were quilted in plain spaces (alternate blocks).  Small white binding was applied."

Amazing variety of quilts

Stars sashed in Lancaster blue, green setting, red corner squares



Many, many more quilts - - but how about some detail...

How about some quilting by a zig-zag border?

Love a knife edge

This red... I'd take a bolt!

The Exhibit runs through July 28th, if you are in the area it is worth a stop.  

The exhibit includes "Darling Dollies"

More pictures later  - - gotta run.   Not much stitching going on this week.

Enjoy!!

Little Stars With Friends

Trio of little stars

This is a special trio.

I've shared my little stars with you.
Let me introduce the original - and a friend's version.

The original vintage quilt is six blocks sashed.
1890-1920's prints.  Machine quilted, mourning print on the back, knife edge.

These are 3" blocks - hand pieced.
We hand quilted ours, and used alternate blocks instead of sashing.

Vintage fabrics - hand pieced and quilted

My friend used some of her vintage fabric stash for her little star quilt - including the back.  Look how soft the blues are.  Some red sparkles...just beautiful.

I love it - tried to keep it on the counter, but she remembered to take it home...smart girl.

She did share her vintage fabrics with me for a future project.  Great fun!




If you made one, what would your fabric choices be?
Have a great weekend!

Calico Paradise

Every quilt has a story and this quilt first appeared to me four years ago.  Little did I know it would end up on my kitchen counter in 2012?


In 2008 I saw this quilt in APQ, in the back where they feature a special quilt with a teaser paragraph.  It is a stunning quilt and I was hoping to learn more about it.  I ripped the page out... Time passed...and I went on to other projects.

In 2010 we moved to a new house (so a new sewing space) and this is one of the clippings I pulled out and put up for inspiration.

Pulling for my project

In 2011 I attended the AQSG seminar in Cherry Hill and sat mesmerized at Show 'N Tell Night as amazing quilts paraded across the stage.

Guess what?  It was there!
At this time I still had not met Ann, and hadn't connected her to Notes From The Quilt Lab Blog.
Through the course of the week I was able to meet Ann, see more pieces from her fabulous collection and 'talk quilts'.

Solids and prints - some fussy cutting

In 2012 Ann gave a presentation at Temecula Quilt Company in Southern California.  I offered to chauffer her and brought some of my pieces for her to see on the ride.

My theory is Catherine's Garden and Calico Paradise have much in common...the center focus, four corner features, botanical emphasis... more on this in a future post.

Rich Color

The quilt is now fully patterned and available in our Etsy shop.

Finished size is about 80 x 90 (depending on how you decide to do the final border).

Fabrics were narrow in 1860 - the maker probable split two lengths in half.  Today we might prefer to split 42/44 into fourths.  Fun for us to decide.

Backing is a purple stripe - love that with the rich madders on the front.

It's faded now - but you can see hints of it's former vibrancy.










Have a great week - I hope you are steeped in collaboration - I will be!