Natalie's Tulip & Madder Stars

I finally made a small piece using the 9-patches and appliqued tulip that my friend, Natalie, had made when we (HQPNJ) were working on our book about Florence Peto.

I'm sure Natalie intended to make a quilt similar to Florence's Calico Garden. The blocks are only 3". 

I added some broderie perse in the edge triangles. . .   

. . . and cut the floral sprays from this fabric.  

When I was making Album Patch in 1996, Natalie gave me the fabric for the sashing . . .  

. . . and I used it for the borders in Natalie's Tulip :)

Here are my madder stars from last week's quiltalong.

Believe it or not some of this fabric is in the above quilt!

Not sure what possessed me to put all these prints together. 

Looking forward to making Indigo Blue stars next. 

The other morning I was on the floor stretching when this amazing sunrise caught my eye!



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Copyright 2015, Barbara Schaffer

Flags of the American Revolution Finale!

What a great feeling it is to have finished this quilt! Thank you Lori for keeping us on track since last August. I never would have made this quilt on my own so being part of a quiltalong certainly has its advantages :) I had decided to make this quilt in memory of my gr4-grandfathers who fought in the Revolution and will put all their names/info on the label. 

I was really happy with the way all those flags went together. The fabric I chose for the border is the same fabric I used for the eagle--dark brownish/black. Of course I had to keep my fingers crossed that it was still available where I initially bought it--and it was!

Looking back here's my design wall with the eagle and tree flags in September.

I have to say the most challenging block was the Whiskey Rebellion flag. Those streamers were testing my applique skills :)

I'll be at QuiltFest NJ on Thursday so maybe I'll find a good fabric for the back.

Thanks again, Lori, for a fun project!

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Copyright 2015, Barbara Schaffer
 
 

Double Pinks

There is so much to learn about fabrics and dyes on Barbara Brackman's Civil War Quilts blog here. It's been really helpful in organizing my reproduction fabrics and it's not too late to jump in! Last week it was Double Pinks so here are mine:

They are so much fun to make and go quickly. I spend a lot of time choosing which fabrics to use :)

 

In case you missed it you can read more about how Barbara came up with the idea for the Stars in a Time Warp quilt-along in "Build a Repro Stash with Barbara Brackman" on Moda's blog. I was thrilled when she emailed me about using the photo of my Prussian Blue stars :)



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Copyright 2015, Barbara Schaffer

Solid Green Stars and Another 4-Patch

Week 5 of Barbara Brackman's Stars In A Time Warp Quiltalong is all about Overdyed Green Solids. Omigosh! Solids (especially greens) are hardly part of my stash but here's what I came up with:

I used three different greens and all are the reverse sides of green prints.
 

The back of star #3 on the left and star #2 on the right.

Star 1

 Star 2

 

 Star 3

 Star 4

If you look close you can barely see the print showing through on the green.

On another note, I made this little 4-Patch just for fun . . .

Even machine quilted it but you know that's not my favorite thing to do, lol!

 

 

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Copyright 2015, Barbara Schaffer

Livingston Love Letters

In 1999 our local Arts Council came up with the idea of producing an alphabet poster for the town, entitled "Livingston Love Letters." Invitations were extended to local artists asking them to participate by creating a letter of the alphabet as an individual work of art--any size, any medium.
 

I chose the letter 'C.'
 

 t

I was out running one morning and came across a Camel cigarette matchbook cover with a nice 'C'. How perfect, LOL! I enlarged it on my copier.

I cut out flowers from lots of different fabrics and fused them to form the letter. 

Then I used decorator fabrics for the rest of the piece. 

A continuous letter 'c' frames the center. Folded squares along the outer edges. 

I machine stitched the entire piece in long forward/back zig-zags. 

A little publicity :)

And the cover of the local business directory. . . 

Happy Valentine's Day!



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Copyright 2015, Barbara Schaffer

 


 

Fussy Four and Four

I'm obsessed! I fussed, then fussed some more, over which 1-1/2" squares to use when making this little Four-Patch Medallion; and, I fussed again over my fabric choices when making last week's Chrome Orange stars as part of the Stars In A Time Warp QuiltAlong.

I had more fun making this piece. I sorted through Lori's baggie of 1-1/2" squares and chose browns, neutrals, pinks and others that I thought could work leaving the dark blues and blacks for another project. Then I added some of my own.

I was trying to reproduce this quilt which I found on Pinterest. Someone had pinned it from stellarubinantiques.com. 

For the inner border I used the reverse side of the fabric that had I tea-dyed though it could have been a bit darker. 

All in all it has a much lighter look than the original but I'm happy with it. 

From subtle to bright :)

Last week's stars focused on Chrome Orange aka Cheddar. Do you think I had any? Only one! So here are four stars with the same orange fabric. I looked at photos of antique quilts to get ideas of color combinations and was surprised to see oranges next to pinks and reds in addition to blues, greens, and yellows. 

I liked this color combination in a block made by Becky Brown on Barbara Brackman's blog.  

Here are a few antique quilts you might like:  

 

Flower Basket Quilt c. 1855 in the collection of the NJ State Museum.

I had photographed this Sunburst quilt at the Newark Museum but neglected to note the basic information. Anyway, it's very orange-y :)

Another striking NJ quilt is the Betsey Haring Quilt which you can see here. Doesn't the orange just pop? HQPNJ wrote about this quilt in their paper Characteristics of Signed New Jersey Quilts 1834-1867 which was published in On the Cutting Edge (Oral Traditions Project 1994).  

Enjoy your day!


 

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Copyright 2015, Barbara Schaffer

Shirting Stars

This is my third week of making stars as part of Barbara Brackman's Stars in a Time Warp QuiltAlong. The first week was Turkey Reds, the second Prussian Blues, and last week Shirting Prints. Four stars seem to be the right number for me to make on a weekly basis. If I can keep this up imagine how many I'll have at year's end! It's been fun sorting through fabrics to find just the right ones. 

Here they are as a group followed by close-ups.  

 

When they were done I began to think about what other shirting goodies I could share with you.

This Log Cabin top is one. It has lots of small prints, plaids, and stripes. 

 

This Basket quilt is another with mostly plaids and stripes.

  

And this odd piece is folded in half forming one big open-ended tube. I haven't the slightest idea why.

 

It has a variety of unwashed stripes and plaids.

Years ago I couldn't resist buying this little piece from my good friend and colleague, Natalie Hart. Not only was she one of the authors of HQPNJ's books, New Jersey Quilts and A Passion for Quilts, she was also a quilt dealer and appraiser.

 

And look at these wonderful early shirting fabrics that were once in her collection. 

 

  
As were these large 4-Patch blocks.  

And this orphan Log Cabin block has some nice shirtings, too. That black and white gingham is really effective, don't you think?

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Copyright 2015, Barbara Schaffer