Superior Quilts

historic Magma Hotel vintage bar

We made a field trip to Superior for an annual end of summer festival - Prickly Pear Days. 

We found some unique quilt art. But not all of them are actual quilts. See what I mean?

Apologies for the blur - I'm learning new phone/camera settings.
The black and white border is bugle beads in-the-ditch. And the binding is variegated crewel yarn whip-stitch. I like how the quote stitching crosses the background and first border.

There was a series of these mug-rugsized  arts, each with the hound's-tooth check background path. 

Did I mention my new camera issues? Sorry I can't show you the complete series.

These heart triptych fabric boxes are the same mug-rug artist, now with broderie-perse and stuffed hearts. I couldn't tell how they constructed the fabric boxes - sew clever!

This Town Hall quilt is painted blocks of local historic places.

I have to make special mention of the smokestack - it came down (video) 9 months ago. A landmark for 100-ish years, all gone. But commemorated in quilting and plenty more local arts :)

I just really liked this local artist painting of cow-girl with coyotes, so I wanted you to see it tool:0.

Thanks for sharing our trip!

An Ideal Doily Quilt

I've searched ages for the ideal quilt plan for showcasing vintage handkerchiefs and doilies. I think Leana has discovered it:

Leana mixed pictorial embroidery, colored pencil, and silk ribbon with crochet from her grandmother.

Blocks are large enough to frame/border the featured handwork, in addition to serving as interesting backgrounds.

 

Plus, the blocks are William Morris. You wouldn't guess it, but the detail and scale of this fabric perfectly compliments the white and cream crochet alike.

 

Mostly outline quilted by hand. This block is a wonderful exception.

Leana's only tip was to spend ages at the design wall considering each placement.
There are no empty or setting blocks.

Leana says she will never show this quilt because it is too precious to risk.

I'm so honored we got to see it:)

 

Here are a few affiliate links for more embellished quilt ideas. Enjoy!:

Hanky-Panky Crazy Quilts by Cindy Brick





Handkerchief Quilts by Pat Long Gardner

Quilting with Doilies by Barbara Polston

 

Strong Stitches

Alex stitched this for Grandpa's birthday.

Lazlo the Strongman by Gina Matarrazo

Did I ever tell you, our Grandpa is a real weightlifter? Yes, since he was 14 years old.
Here are some of his early trophies from the 1950s:

This week is Dad's 74th birthday = 60 years of weightlifting!

Dad hurt his back earlier this year, and now he has a walker.
So I made Ale's stitchery into a patch pocket for a walker tote.
Just what every weightlifter needs:)

 

Flowers in the Kitchen

Alex, the best stitcher in our family, crossstiched blue (of course!) roses on these fluffy waffle-weave oven mitts. Nice how she mirrored the design. Just wanted to share a project that's really finished!

So thankful for my daughter, Alex :)
I know this is a crazy busy week, everyone getting ready for holidays. But if you have a minute, please share: What are you thankful for this Thursday?

 

Thanks for sharing,

Happy Holidays --Mom

Pineapple Welcome

Welcoming Summer and friends new and old with a quilted pineapple door hanger. This easy project combines two applique pieces: pineapple and prim stitchery.

This pineapple applique is from Rag-Spun.  It comes in two parts: green top and yellow bottom. We used the medium 4"x5" sized Rag-Spun pineapple. You could use wool or felt shapes, a fussy cut pineapple, or an iron on patch. Even a card stock pineapple will work, if you plan on never washing door hanger.

I auditioned a lot of background fabrics for this project. This tropical blue wicker print gives a summery attitude to the project. All you need is a 10"x7" scrap.

Start with glue stick and tack pineapple pieces in place with the green part roughly in the center of background scrap.

Create a quilt sandwich (layer top over batting and backing). Secure layers with pins or basting stitches, or my favorite quilting tool, Spray Basting.

Quilt diamond grid all over. I used 3/4" grid to match the size of the wicker background print. Anything 1" or smaller will work. Just quilt right through the pineapple applique to secure it in place. No need to outline or edge-stitch. Recommend machine stitching and regular foot for quilting over Rag-Spun appliques.

Alex stitched "welcome" on muslin scraps. Replacing the "L" with cross stitches and stitching some of the letters in miss-matched floss gives a  primitive feel to the words.
Any idea how pineapples came to signify Welcome? I believe it started as a colonial era tradition. Guessing that's why primitive accents go so well with pineapples.
Alex used dark brown and gold floss. Center welcome stitches above pineapple and stitch around word in an oval shape. Trim muslin to follow stitching line, leaving a 1/4" margin.

Square-up edges. Finish with traditional quilt binding. One yard of binding will do. Attach a 10" or 12" scrap of ribbon for a hanger. Tuck ends of ribbon in top binding edge on back and tack in place.

Halloween finished...just in time

Finished Alex's costume 20 min. to trick-or treat! Glad she likes it, and we had a great Holiday with family.

 What do you call this stitch? Looks like a line of stacked "T"s on my Singer. I think it makes a great Frankenstein stitch for this Halloween crazy patch project.

Of course, Pearl helped too.

So, the goal for Thanksgiving projects: get done a day ahead so I can enjoy the holiday like everyone else! You'll be the first to know how I'm doing. Wish me luck.

Janet's Stitchery Class

In May, I went to a stitchery class with Mom, our friend, Suzy, and Suzy's sister, Angela. The teacher was our friend named Janet. She taught us to do a  French Knot (which was hard) and Back Stitch. I was better than Mom. At the end of our little class, Janet gave me a quilt block kit. I will Back Stitch the lines on the kit-cloth and Mom will sew them together. Then we will give the nursery quilt to Janet's church charity.

I'm still working on the quilt block. And while I was at Janet's, I made this Halloween picture too.

These are my finished quilt blocks.

These are part of the quilt block.

This is the Halloween pattern I stitched in Janet's class.