MY JOURNEY: QUILT # 21

  Another quilt from the Special Exhibit My Joyful Journey, part of the Virtual Quilt Festival, December 3-5, 2020.

QUILT # 21: Stars in a Time Warp  90" x 90". Orignal design, machine pieced, longarm quilted, 2016 Quilted by Magnolia Longarm Quilting: 

The  Story: The blocks were a 2015 block of the week project from Barbara Brackman. Over 50 weeks she presented a fabric style or color and explained the history of that design. I  made 2 blocks a week. When trying to decide how to assemble 100 blocks, I remembered I had this John Hewson reproduction panel that would do nicely. He was a fabric printer from Colonial Philadelphia, my hometown. Since by now I am known for making Medallion style quilts, it made the perfect center. All the rest of the borders I designed as the quilt grew. It was included in the Special Exhibit "In The American Tradition", Houston, 2017. 

Let's quilt. 

Barbara

Barbara Brackman, John Hewson, and Me

Here it is, my first quilt top finished in 2016:

It is the Stars in a Time Warp blocks with a pre-printed John Hewson panel in the center.  It measures 99" square.  The stars are from Barbara Brackman's Stars in a Time Warp Quilt Along.  I wrote about John Hewson, a Philadelphia textile manufacturer during Colonial times here.  Completing this top took a lot of time this past week and I am very glad it is done.

Here it is on our King size bed:

Oops--it's just a little too small.  Another border of 6 inch stars would be perfect.  BUT that's 72 more stars and that is just NOT going to happen.

SO, here it is on a Queen size bed:

Perfect!

Now, here is the IRONIC part of this story.  During the year Barbara Brackman was presenting these blocks online and giving so much historical information about fabrics and colors and design styles, she also posted lots of suggestions for how to set the stack of blocks we were making.  I had several options I really liked.  And of the finished tops that are appearing online now, I have found two I just LOVE:

This is by Lori DeJarnette of Humble Quilts.  I had the good fortune to meet Lori in person last summer in Portland, OR.  We've followed each other online for a few years now.  I love that yellow/cheddar and isn't this just a happy quilt?!  Simple, cheerful, warm and wonderful.  What a great quilt, Lori!

This one is by Edith Shanholt, a Facebook friend.  She  used alternate blocks of many of the great reproduction fabrics used in the stars.  I would love to have her scraps!  The dark perimeter triangles set off the bright blocks brilliantly. Once again, it's a simple set, on-point, a style I really like and have made often.  This is a fabric lover's treasure and will be an amazing historical piece 100 years from now.  Well done, Edith!

SO, why did I make mine so complicated??  Well, the quilt collage at the top of my blog shows I've made more than a few Medallion-style quilts over the years.  They've become my "trademark".  How did that happen?  When I first started quilting in 1985 I saw a picture of this quilt, Ray of Light,  by Jinny Beyer:

From Jinny's website:

Ray of Light is one of the most-recognized American quilts. In 1977, at the height of the resurgence of quiltmaking, it won the Good Housekeeping and U.S. Historical Society contest for The Great American Quilt, besting 10,000 entries.

I clearly remember saying to my quilting friends at the time:  "Someday I want to make a quilt like this."  I became a fan of Jinny Beyer from her first fabric line designed for RJR Fabrics. And I have all her books--I've even read them.

I love the complexity of Medallion quilts.  I love the math that goes into making those borders.  I love the design work it takes to pull it all together.  And I love all the fabrics that go into these quilts.  In my world, there is no such thing as TOO MUCH fabric!  

Speaking of fitting those borders, I learned how to do that from Sue Garman, and the quilt she designed for The Quilt Show in 2009.  You can find her patterns here.  Sue has become a dear friend and I am in awe of her talent as a quiltmaker, designer, hand and machine quilter.  An amazing woman.

My high school yearbook used a quote from Alfred, Lord Tennyson that I took to heart:

"I am a part of all that I have met."  That is true for me, maybe in quiltmaking more than in any other part of my life.  The people who I have had the good fortune to cross paths with, the well-known and the everyday quilters, have made me the quilter I am today.  I thank them for all they've shared with me.  I hope I can do the same.

What am I working on now?  Something easy for the next few days!  Like my Lifetime Quilt:

This is coming along quickly.  Last night one of my best quilting buddies, Ellen, said: "If this is your lifetime quilt, you must not plan to live all that long."   These blocks are like Doritos, you can't stop at one.  First, those tiny half-square triangles practically make themselves as Leaders/Enders.  Then it's fun to put four rows of four HST together.  That block of 4 x 4 want friends, so I make another 3 sets of 4 x 4, and voila! A 10" block is done.  So far, the 10" blocks are just sitting there.  I'll decide later where and how to sew them together.

And yesterday I finally finished my own We Wish You a Mini Christmas from Temecula Quilt Company:

We'll just say I'm early for next Christmas.

Barbara Brackman has a new Quilt Along coming soon,Westering Women.  Read more about it here. I'm sure it will be full of wonderful historical information and great quilt blocks.

Let's Quilt!

Barbara

Time to Make More Stars

Yesterday I got this far with Stars in a Time Warp with John Hewson.  I first wrote about it here.

Currently, 72" square

There are still four more borders to add, a row of stars next, a narrow blue, a 3" flying geese border and finally, one last narrow blue border.  The flying geese borders will take some time to complete.

This morning I counted the remaining stars and came up 18 short.  So, time to make more stars.  First, I divided up the remaining blocks into my favorites and not-so favorites:

This is my opportunity to make more blocks that are definitely favorites.  The less-than favorites have their place in any quilt:  they let the favorite ones really shine, they provide a "supporting cast" for the "most favorite" ones.  I just didn't want to find myself at the end of this quilt with only the "less-thans" left.

Next, I dug into my stash of my favorite reproduction fabrics and selected the ones to use in these last 18 blocks.  Some are repeats, some are new additions.

Then it was time to start cutting.  I make these blocks in groups of 4--the most efficient way for me to work.  Here are the first four in process:

You'll also notice some of my leader/ender project laid out too.  This is my Lifetime Quilt, I wrote about it here,  Those little half square triangles blocks are coming together quickly.  I have 3 complete 10" blocks done, each has 64 HST in each, that's 128 pieces of fabric/block.  And one more will be done soon.  I cut the triangle pairs from fabrics I am using for the John Hewson quilt, almost all repros.  Then I sew the triangle pairs together, trim them to 1.75" HST, sew pairs together, then sew twos to become fours.  Eventually, I lay out four rows of fours and join those.  When I have four units of four rows each, I join those into the 10" block.  So far, I haven't sewn any of the 10" blocks together.  I'm waiting until I have a wide selection of fabrics in those 10" blocks so the fabrics will be spread out over the entire quilt.  At least, that's my current plan, always subject to change.

Here are the first four stars done.  Along with four units of the Lifetime Quilt ready to be joined.

To finish the remaining 14 stars in a timely manner, I'll stop working on the Lifetime Quilt, other than using the triangle pairs in true Leader/Ender fashion, as I'm making the stars.  The star blocks will be done today, and I'll lay out the remaining borders ready for a day of sewing tomorrow.

Let's quilt!

Barbara

Stars in a Time Warp with John Hewson

I am on a roll with this quilt:

The star blocks are from the wonderful Barbara Brackman's Stars in a Time Warp Quilt-Along-from 2015.  Find more info here.  Along with the weekly fabric choices, she provides so much historical information about quilitng fabrics,

Throughout the year, there were also suggestions for setting designs.  I made 2 of each block so have over 100 blocks to use.  I love medallion style quilts and have made several.  I remembered I bought the John Hewson Medallion panel a couple years ago, and fortunately could even find it.  This is the perfect center for me and this quilt.

John Hewson immigrated to Philadelphia from London about 1774.  He was a textile manufacturer who was known to make the best quality calico fabrics. He custom designed prints for Martha Washington, wife of George.  

I was born and grew up in Philadelphia, where Colonial History is a big part of elementary and secondary education.  Some of the places John Hewson lived and had his business are still there today.  And the Marine Corps was formed at Tun Tavern in 1775--since I became a Marine in 1975 I love that connection too.  John Hewson probably dined a Tun Tavern--it is close to his shop location.
If you Google "John Hewson Medallion" you will find these images.  Both quilts featuring his original prints and reproduction prints are shown here.  There is an entire Pinterest Board on him:  Quilting-John Hewson.  Pretty cool, yes?

Up next are half-square triangles.  I want quite a few but want to sew them as quickly as possible so here is the plan:

Eleven pairs of 6.5" squares, dark and light,

 draw a 3" grid and diagonal lines through the four squares.

Sew on both sides of the diagonal lines

Cut apart on the drawn lines, press toward the darker fabric

Trim to 2,5" square.  This plan will make 88 Half-Square Triangles (HST)

I designed this in EQ7--still haven't settled on all the pieced borders yet--they will come together as I get to them. I also didn't worry about putting all different color stars or search too hard for a medallion for the center.  Using EQ7 for this quilt is mainly to help me organize and plan the solid fabric and pieced borders, working out what size each will be.

The blue border stripe print I am using for "floater borders" is from Barbara Brackman's Union Blues collection--that was just serendipity.

This is perfect for the 1" finished floater borders--it is very easy to cut that size.  The panel is not square so I had to use 2" borders on the left/right sides of the panel, 1" on the top and bottom.  Again, this stripe was very easy to cut that size.

This month was going to be very busy. Yesterday I got 5 days back later this month that were going to have me out of town.  SO, I decided this is the perfect month to get this large quilt top assembled.  Check back as John Hewson grows.

Let's quilt!

Barbara