Dutch Girl Quilt

1960's VINTAGE QUILT

Dutch Girl

This quilt top was given to me by my sister-in-law.  Her grandmother made it for her and her other girl cousins, but never completed it.  I have several unfinished 'girls' that I can make another quilt with.  She machine appliqued each 'girl' onto white blocks. 

I love some of the fabrics, especially this dogwood print.  

This grandmother did not let convention dictate what prints she was going to put together.

You can see that she had to patch a few pieces together to make it the right size.

This block has two different fabrics sewn together.  You really only notice it when you look close.  From afar, it looks great!

I chose a teal flower print for the border and teal flannel for the back.  I felt the teal blended the other prints together and the red made a nice border.  I hand quilted it with a vine pattern.  My sister-in-law asked me to finish the quilt for my granddaugher.

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DOLL FURNITURE

My friend Sherri gave me this set of doll furniture for my granddaughters to play with. 

The paint is vibrant and I love the detail on each piece.

The furniture is set up on the small wash stand in my spare bedroom.  The butterfly doily was my grandmothers.  Buttercup, my fairy, is resting right now.  Please do not disturb her.

 

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OTHER PROJECTS

I have been busy sewing, just not getting anything completed.  My goal is to finish several projects this year, so I started on my own 40 year old Sunbonnet Sue quilt.  I shoved it back in a box due to several mistakes.  I have fixed those mistakes and I'm close to having it ready to quilt.  Also, I have started a throw quilt for my brother made from Crown Royal bags.  This one is fun!  Can't wait to show you how well it is coming along.

Thanks for visiting and have a great summer,

Cinder 

Out with the old and in the with the not so old!

UPDATED COUCH

Now that I finished reupholstering my rocking chair, I was ready to tackle my couch.  And tackle was the right word.  Math is not my strong suit, so for several days I measured and measured to make sure that I would buy enough fabric to cover everything.  Next hurtle was to find just the perfect color to match the rocking chair and update the whole room.  I love a challenge and perservere I did!  Tape measure - scissors - roll of fabric - here I go!  I set up the sewing machine right next to the couch and set to work.  

Before picture.  I had already removed the dust ruffle from the bottom. (I swear there were a hundred staples holding it on!)  The couch was given to me in ~1995 used.  It is a very good brand and has really held up from the wear and tear of 2 sons, 6 grandchildren and 22 years of continuous use.  (It makes an extra bed when we need one.  It's very long and when the back cushions are removed, it's almost the size of a twin bed.)  The seat cushions are worn through in some places and a few stains are shattered about.  I came to me as a nice light off white color and ended as a very dingy/yellowed white.

 

After picture.  At first I was afraid that I chose too dark of fabric but once I got use to it, I liked it.  It freshens up the room.  I added wooden carved buttons to the center back cushions and covered the small side pillows.  The other pillow is from the same fabric that was used on the rocking chair.

It's so nice to have 'new' things in the house.  Now I just have to keep my husband from wrestling on it with the grandkids!

I also purchased a frame for my Hawaii pictures.  You can see it on the wall above the flowers.  

I hung a piece of coral on leather and a pretty Hawaiian flower from the top of the frame.  The color of the ocean is almost the same color as the fabric!

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SURPRISE GIFT

Out of the blue I received a package in the mail.  Inside was this lovely hand crochet blanket from my sister-in-law.  

She did a lovely job on it and I love all the colors.  Those cold days we had last month definately required a cover as I watched TV in the evenings.   Ahh and so soft too.  Thanks Mel!

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QUILT

These quilt blocks were given to me from my friend Sherri.  They were her mothers, who was a wonderful quilter.  This is a lovely star block and I loved how she used up her scrap material.  No two block are the same! 

  

 She always drew sew lines and followed them when she sewed.  Look at her tiny stitches!    

It turned out really pretty and I hand tied it.  The blue fabric on the back came in the same box with the blocks so I used it. 

 

 

 

 

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COMPUTERS!

I feel that I have negelected my and my fellow bloggers websites due to my inability to adapt to changing 'updates' on my phone hotspot and computer.  Why am I subjected to these updates?  Windows 10 - are you kidding me?  What a crock of ___.  "Take it off," I shouted to my computer guru.  "Take it off!"  "It's here to stay," he says "but I'll turn some things off so it will run better/faster."  Holy Moly!   I am from the old school that 'if it isn't broken, don't fix it'.  But NO!  Consistantly there are updates, yikes.  What's an old person to do!  

(Sorry for my few moments on my soap box.  Just venting!)  

Thanks for visiting,

Cinder

Crazy Quilt and Wall Basket

VINTAGE CRAZY QUILT

These crazy quilt blocks were given to me not long ago.  All the blocks were different sizes so I had to trim some up and add additional fabric to others to make them all the same size or square.

 Someone put a lot of work into them.  First they hand pieced each piece of fabric to make a block, then they tacked it to an additional square of fabric to form a large block.  Pictures below are the backs of two blocks.  You can see the stitches on the front of the third picture.

 

Again, I am unable to date it but would guess most of the fabrics are from the1950's.  Because the blocks were pieced together, I decided to piece together navy blue fabric I had on hand for the border and back.  I also lined the border with white muslin so it would have the same weight throughout the whole quilt. 

 Here is the back and border all lined.

This will be a nice warm full size quilt for the winter.  I'm sure my son will enjoy it.

I hand tied it. 

 

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WALL BASKET

I love the grapevine handle on this wall basket.  It really makes it stand out.  

 

I dyed the reed with walnut hulls and used creek bank willow for  the ribs and rim. 

 

Narrow strips of leather were woven in the main body of the basket.  It's a nice size baskets that would hold letters, wash clothes or small kitchen gadgets. 

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Here's a family photo I found while working on my family genealogy.  What a motley crew!!!  I'm the one with the funny looking shirt.

Thanks for visiting,

Cinder 

New/Old Quilts

NEWEST PROJECTS

Look what I just got!  My niece was helping a family friend down size and she had these to give away.  Of course I was glad to take them!  Always love new projects added to my ever growing list of projects.  So here they are:

2 TWIN SIZE

They need some mending and ironing.  

24 BLOCKS

 

Pinks, green and reds size 8x8

PINWHEEL

Only have seven of theses and one lone block.  Several are pretty stained.  Oh well, that's just part of working with vintage blocks.

CRAZY BLOCKS

There are 22 blocks that measure 10 1/2 x 10 1/2.  

AND THEN THERE WERE TWO

 

 And last but not least...2 lone blocks.  What to do...

WORK IN PROGRESS

And this is what I'm working on now.  Slowly but surely.

Thanks for visiting,

Cinder

Patchwork and Biscuit Quilt

VINTAGE QUILT

This 16 patch quilt top came to me from my sister-in-law's grandmother, Trula.  She used scrap pieces for the blocks and light blue polka dot and flour sack for the sash and border to make a full size quilt. 

 
This quilt has been stored for a long time and had several stains on it.  At one point it had been washed causing the blocks to unravel and threads to knot in the back.  It took we awhile to trim them all up.



On some of the flour sacking fabric there were green marks and some light lettering that I couldn't read.

Some of the blocks are a mixed bag of pieces and other she used two colors.

I machine quilted around each block along the seam to hold it in place due to some of the seams were coming apart.

I had a beige piece of fabric that I used for the back and chose light blue for the binding to match the polka dot blocks.

 

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PUFF OR BISCUIT QUILT

In the 1970's my grandmother gave me several old 1960's quilt booklets.  There were a few pattern that I hoped someday to make.  One was a Puff or Biscuit quilt, which I made into a crib quilt when my grandson was born a few years ago.  

 

 It has come back to me for minor repairs.

 

Each square is made up of 2 different size pieces of fabric, one larger than the other.  The larger piece, which would be the top of the quilt, is pleated on 3 sides and sewn onto the smaller piece.  Next a piece of batting is put inside the two pieces and then sewn shut with a pleat.  After making many small squares, I laid out a diagonal pattern and machine sewed each row together.  A piece of fabric was placed on the back and I machine sewed down every other row to secure it, then added the binding.  It was fun and really different looking.  Now on to the repair job!

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Thanks for visiting,

Cinder 

Patch Quilt

6" SQUARE QUILT

I inherited most of these squares from my friend Sherri's mother.  I thought they were an odd collection of colors and prints.  I almost separated them to use in different quilts, but that didn't seem right.  They came to me as a "set" so I had to work with it.  I added a few of my own to make this full size quilt.  Once I laid it out, the blocks started to blend together, bring out some good earth tones.
 
 

  
When it came to the border, I couldn't find anything to make it pop, to bring it all together.  I put several fabrics with it and they didn't improve it.  THEN, I found this piece of lovely brown in my stash, which I call "Cappuccino".  The brown really set the blocks.  

 
I hand quilted a straight stitch around the blocks but got fancier on the border and corners.  This was the quilt that my granddaughters helped me on.

I bought some brown, leafy fabric for the back and binding.  I'm really happy how it turned out.

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CAT PILLOW

I spent one Saturday with my sister and her 3 granddaughters.  We had so much fun bike riding, laughing and telling stories.  One thing the girls said was that they were going to get a cat.  Well, that was news to my niece.  They already had 2 dogs and NO, they were not getting a cat, she said!  Sooo, when the youngest birthday arrived, I decided to get her a "cat".

I grabbed some fabric and scissors and away I went.  The mouth is a zipper and was made so that she can store secret treasures in.

At least with this cat, you don't need a litter box!  
(It's really kind of homely!)
 
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Thanks for visiting,
Cinder