Posts Tagged ‘vintage quilts’

Introducing Father & Farmer

Written by Diane Harris on . Posted in How-tos and Ideas

My latest design for Fons & Porter’s Quick + Easy Quilts was inspired by two things.

Father & Farmer, designed and made by Diane Harris, quilted by Julie Lechner.
Appears in Fons & Porter’s Quick + Easy Quilts Feb/March 2021

The first was a vintage quilt I saw on the auction site eBay. Tiny red triangles sparkled against dusty old tones, and I was smitten.

The second inspiration was my father.

John Volk

His name was John Volk and he was a farmer here in Nebraska. He loved agriculture and he loved us. I could write a book about him, but for now let me tell you about his everyday attire.

My dad with two of his great-granddaughters

My dad wore denim overalls and a blue chambray shirt. And he carried a bandana-patterned handkerchief in either bright red or navy blue. For all or our lives, day in and day out, we could count on this one thing. (Unless it was Sunday, but that’s another post.)

John Volk with one of his great-grandsons

He died in 2011 at age 91, but I still have a pair of his overalls. I’d like to make something from them, but in the meantime, there is this quilt:

Father & Farmer

Father & Farmer, designed and made by Diane Harris, quilted by Julie Lechner.
Appears in Fons & Porter’s Quick + Easy Quilts Feb/March 2021

All of the blues and creams are from my stash, and they echo the colors I associate with Dad. And sewing from what I already have? That’s significant too, because my father was a child of the Depression. Born in 1920, he lived through some very lean times in the ’30s.

There’s a story about one of my brothers chiding him for saving what seemed like an excess of scrap wood behind a small building on the farm. And Dad went on a little rant about that, declaring that until we had lived through a time when you could not get the things you needed, we’d better zip it.

My parents and my four brothers several years before I was born.
Same overalls and blue shirt. 😍

So I like to think that he’d approve of me pulling fabrics from my stash to make a quilt in his honor.

I made the quilt for a king-size bed, which is why it has a wider border at the bottom. Another row of blocks would have made it too large; this border brought it to just the size I wanted.

This issue is on newsstands now so I hope you’ll pick it up when you see it. I love the cover quilt by Nancy Mahoney called Weaving Stars. There’s an easy veteran-appropriate Quilt of Valor pattern, a nice baby quilt, a fabulous modern design called Tweens by Dodi Poulsen and much more.

If you prefer a digital issue (save the trees!) you can order it from Quilting Daily for $7.99. I’m always amazed by what a great value a magazine is. When a pattern costs at least $10 or $12, less than eight for a dozen projects is a steal.

Thank you for letting me think happy thoughts about my father today. He was a keeper.

Quilt on,

EQ Block Spotlight: In a Pickle

Written by Diane Harris on . Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Quilt Lifestyle

One of the things I love about EQ8 quilt design software is that it can help me “scratch an itch.” When there’s a quilt I adore but know that I probably won’t ever make, I can create it virtually with EQ!

Every month on the EQ blog, there’s a feature called Block Spotlight. People are encouraged to design something with a featured block. EQ editors give a few ideas to prime your creative pump and it’s like calisthenics for your creative muscles.

Prickly Pickle is one of the built-in blocks in EQ8.

I was happy to see that the August Block Spotlight is Prickly Pickle. It’s from the block library within the software—one of thousands you can use to design your own quilts—and I can’t wait to see how people use it.

Is this your photo? If so, please email me.

A bell went off in my head when I saw the block, because just that week I had seen the photo above and fell in love with the colors in that quilt. The old, softly muted reds, blues, pinks and creams against the faded gold are heavenly.

Is this your photo? If so, please email me.

There is one problem: I don’t know where I grabbed these photos so I can’t properly credit the owner. If they are yours, please let me know.

Since I love that vintage quilt so much, I colored my Block Spotlight in a similar way. And that was really scratching an itch for me!

I adore this quilt but I won’t ever make it. So coloring it and making as many virtual blocks as I wanted to were a wonderful substitute.

When I play with a quilt design, I use the solid colors available in EQ instead of the fabric swatches.

At this point in the process, I’m not thinking about fabric as much as I’m considering the big picture of the color recipe and the values (lightness or darkness).

I will say that I do know my fabric stash well enough to be certain that I could find these in it. I would have to buy the gold fabric, but with virtual, that’s not a problem! See the advantages?? 😊

I love to color things randomly. There are some parameters (a set of colors) but they are loose and the whole thing can flow freely.

It was as much fun to color it in EQ8 as it would be to sew it—maybe more!

And this is what I love about scrappy vintage quilts! They are the most carefree, exuberant and entertaining quilts around.

What I wouldn’t give for the time to sew this! Would you ever get tired of looking at it? Seems there would always be something new to discover! And to demonstrate that the gold is the bomb, look at what happens with a neutral background.

I think it dies. The colors and randomness are still interesting but they don’t hold up the way the gold background does. But you know what?

That is just one person’s opinion!

And that’s the beauty of the quilting world: You are in charge of what you like and what you don’t. If you like it, you can do it!

I wondered about an indigo background. With EQ it’s just a click or two to check it out.

I tried several different blues because blue is funny and I think it’s a hard color in a scrap quilt. (Red is the easiest!)

I saw a wonderful quilt by Sandi Griepenstroh at guild last week in navy and lime green. So I tried something in those colors. (This is why you should be snapping photos during your guild meetings! Color inspiration from here to kingdom come!) Then I had another idea.

Above, the petal shapes are mostly filled in with color. I wondered what would happen if…

I made the insides of the petal shapes the same color as the background. Voila! Totally different look. Now it’s as if you’re peering through curved window panes.

And because I got so excited about this block, before I left it behind, I softened the colors into something I might actually sew, with a more reasonable number of blocks.

Because you never know.

To get started with EQ8 from The Electric Quilt Company, use code EQ8STASHBANDIT for 20% off everything on electricquilt.com. That’s a nice savings! Ends Sept. 30, 2020.

To see what others designed with the same block, visit Block Spotlight! And if you’re an EQ user, jump right in to the fun and design something yourself. If you’re not a user but you want to be, use the code above to get started.

Not Quite Dead

Written by Diane Harris on . Posted in How-tos and Ideas, Quilt Lifestyle

I haven’t blogged in a while but here’s what has been happening in my personal life and in the studio!

I went to Hong Kong for two weeks to visit my daughter, her husband and their two little boys.

I had a great time and enjoyed the little guys tremendously. Their parents are wonderful, too, but you know: grandchildren.

Small Bear, Big Story: Part 2

Written by Diane Harris on . Posted in Blog, Quilt Lifestyle

Today’s feature is a guest post by my friend Donna di Natale. She’s a quilter and author with Nebraska roots. After retiring from the medical field, Donna was an editor for Kansas City Star Quilts. She lives in Lenexa, Kansas and enjoys history, antiques and vintage quilt treasures.  

Read Part 1 if you need to.

Part 2
by Donna di Natale

On a recent trip to Hamilton, Missouri, I brought home a red and white signature bear. Wanting to learn more about the bear, it was time to do a little research.

I enjoy research, especially genealogy. As with all research, you start with what you know. In this case, I knew the bear was purchased in Hamilton, Caldwell County, Missouri, and that is where I began. 

Small Bear, Big Story: Part 1

Written by Diane Harris on . Posted in Blog, Quilt Lifestyle

Today’s feature is a guest post by my friend Donna di Natale. She’s a quilter and author with Nebraska roots. After retiring from the medical field, Donna was an editor for Kansas City Star Quilts. She lives in Lenexa, Kansas and enjoys history, antiques and vintage quilt treasures.  

Part 1
by Donna di Natale

During a recent visit to Hamilton, Missouri (mecca for quilters), I stopped at a small antique shop called Junke and Disorderly. With a name like that, the shop had to contain hidden treasures, right?

Upon entering the shop one has the impression that it might have been a home. There are small rooms leading to other small and even smaller rooms. This seems odd because from the outside it looks like any other turn of the century brick storefront. Perhaps the front room was a shop and the back was living quarters. But that’s a story for another time.

Junke and Disorderly in Hamilton, Missouri

One Hundred Small Quilts #5

Written by Diane Harris on . Posted in Blog, Trunk Shows

One of the sweetest quilts I ever came across is a Sunbonnet Sue baby quilt from the 30’s or 40’s. I’m not usually a fan of silly Sue, but this one was so charming that I couldn’t leave it behind.

I love the rectangular blocks. They’re more interesting than square blocks. And notice that Sue has a friend. Or maybe she’s a twin. There are two Sues on each block. I love the solid colors used for each little girl. They’re so cheerful.

Machine Quilting Inspiration

Written by Diane Harris on . Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas

Over the weekend I saw a lot of machine quilting that challenged me to improve my skills and start working on the tops I have finished. You know how that is? You love to piece them, but your machine quilting is less than perfect and it’s hard to figure out what to quilt on them. So the pile of unquilted tops grows.

Here are some of the quilts that inspired me. They were done by Handi Quilter educators on longarm machines, which I do not have, but that doesn’t matter. It’s entirely possible to quilt beautifully on a home sewing machine. My quilting doesn’t have to be of show quality to be just fine.

Collecting Older Quilting Books

Written by Diane Harris on . Posted in Blog, How-tos and Ideas, Quilt Lifestyle

Once every few months, I get to spend a day at International Quilt Study Center & Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska, about 140 miles from home. Next to the quilts, the best part of these visits is checking out the used books for sale in the museum gift shop.

I always leave with my arms full of books, and not just any books. They’re the kind of quilt books that hold all sorts of treasures, sometimes literally and sometimes in the form of inspiration for my own work.

I collect books from state quilt documentation projects, and Florida Quilts by Charlotte Allen Williams is one I do not have. A steal at $4.

Double Wedding Ring made by Edna Earle McKee in 1931 in Cottondale, Florida, 78″ x 78″, pieced by machine, hand quilted in a fan pattern, cotton batting.

And if this Double Wedding Ring quilt photo was the only one in the book, it would have been worth ten times what I paid. I mean, have you ever?!? Quilts like this give me courage! Edna Earle McKee made it in 1931 in Cottondale, Florida. Edna was a woman after my own heart. Edna wasn’t too worried about whether the fabrics matched.

Texas Quilts, Texas Treasures from Texas Heritage Quilt Society goes into my collection, too.

Pattern quilt c. 1900 by Nancy Fredonia Chapman Sears, Rusk County, Texas

The color photos in this one just never end, and the quilts are from all sorts of people. I can’t get enough of it. This sampler, called a “pattern quilt” in the book, inspires me to make a sampler from all the extra blocks filed away in my studio.

A slightly damaged America’s Quilts and Coverlets was just $1. It’s by Carleton L. Safford and Robert Bishop.

Inside the book were some interesting things: A triangular cardboard template, an advertising card for coffee, and some clippings with quilt patterns.

I wonder who clipped these out and tucked them inside the book. Did he or she use the Grandma’s Wedding Ring quilt pattern? What happened to that quilt? I hope it went to a good home.

Here’s an example of the quilts pictured inside.

Patchwork quilt, unnamed design, c. 1800.

No maker is listed in the book for this quilt, and isn’t that heartbreaking? I view this quilt as a permission slip to do whatever works in the moment. Notice that there are full blocks, half blocks, and even a quarter block up in the corner. How fun! We worry too much about everything. If your quilt isn’t quite long enough, then just add another border along the bottom and presto! Just right.

A woven coverlet

I’m also interested in weaving, so the coverlet section of the book intrigues me. I’d love to be able to weave something like this someday! I was given a floor loom a few months ago (for free!) but that’s a story for another day.

And if these vertical sashes aren’t the happiest, yellowest, staunchest pillars you’ve ever seen…! And consider this: There is hardly any other yellow in the quilt. I think we can all stop stressing over our sashing choices.

This black and white photo from the book is especially useful. You can see the values (lights and darks) without being distracted by the color. Isn’t it curious that this quilt maker used diamonds to create fan blocks instead of sewing the sections together to make a bursting star? I love this idea. It will probably show up in my own work.

 

Contemporary Quilts from The James Collection is from 1995, two years before the quilt treasure-store of Robert and Ardis James (New Yorkers with Nebraska roots) came “home” to establish International Quilt Study Center and Museum. Now boasting the largest publicly held quilt collection in the world, it has grown into an international phenomenon with quilts and related items dating from the early 1700s to the present and representing more than 50 countries.

The booklet is based on an exhibit at Museum of American Quilter’s Society curated by Penny McMorris, whose name you may recognize. She has worn many hats over the years, and today she is one of the owners of The Electric Quilt Company, where the quilt design software Electric Quilt originates. Quite a peek into the last 30 years of contemporary quiltmaking.

Whether your quilting library has new books or vintage titles like these, pull them out regularly. Browse for inspiration and soon you’ll have so many ideas, you won’t know where to begin.

 

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Ken Burns, Filmmaker and Quilt Collector

Written by Diane Harris on . Posted in Blog, Quilt Lifestyle

If you’ve watched popular documentaries such as Jazz, Baseball, The Vietnam War and The National Parks: America’s Best Idea, then you may know Ken Burns as a filmmaker. His highly acclaimed work is known the world over. 

What you may not know is that Ken Burns is also a quilt collector. Some of his quilts are on exhibit for the first time at International Quilt Study Center & Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska through May 13. I’m lucky enough to live within a few hours’ drive and I visited last week.

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