I Love Flying Geese

Still on the hunt for my Next Lifetime Quilt, I am considering Flying Geese--I really love that shape.

NEQM by Mary Kelleher

 This one is unusual in that there are no bars separating the rows of geese. I do love that there are light geese and dark geese flying all together, and a wide variety of "sky" fabrics, both light and dark.

Here is one with the bars:

From Ebay

And another antique, seen on Martha Gray's blog, Q is for Quilts, and used with her permission:

A pattern that uses lots of geese is Wild Goose Chase. This would take some planning as a Leader/Ender quilt but it would work:

From Ebay

Flying Geese are also the Star Points units used in Sawtooth Stars:

Civil War Homefront from The Blue and The Gray by Etherington and Tesene

But since I made a bunch of Sawtooth Stars during Barbara Brackman's Stars in a Time Warp year-long project, I may be over that:

The biggest problem for me in using Flying Geese as a Leader/Ender project is that I like to make four geese at once, I even have a tutorial above that shows how I do it and how I oversize and custom cut.

I want to use the 2" strips I have leftover from the First Lifetime Quilt. I could do that if I was willing to make Flying Geese from one rectangle and two squares. I tried it just to see and I am just not a fan of this method. But it would work:

So, still on the hunt for the pattern I want to invest the next few years to.

Thoughts, kind friends? Do you love Flying Geese?

Let's quilt,

Barbara

How About a Nine-Patch?

As I ponder my Next Lifetime Quilt, I am considering the simple Nine-Patch.

Here is an odd antique top I bought somewhere:

I bought it primarily as a fabric study. Here are some details:

Full of wonderful old prints, this would be an "inspiration" quilt--I cannot see myself replicating it exactly like this. I do love the different sizes of the nine-patches, but why are the tiny ones out there on the edge?

If I were to put it together block-to-block, my precision would have to be a bit better than this. How about adding a narrow sashing between blocks? That would let each block shine just a bit more. Using a variety of shirtings for sashing, or just one fabric?

My pieces would be smaller as I have lots of 2" strips leftover from the Lifetime quilt. But I do love the tiny ones too so maybe multiple sizes would be used.

Pretty simple quilt but lots to think about as I consider how I might make this my Next Lifetime Quilt.

Thoughts, quilt friends?

Let's quilt,

Barbara

My Next Lifetime?

As my first Lifetime quilt is heading toward completion, I find myself thinking "What's Next?" A new Leader/Ender quilt has to be decided upon...

Here is one I am considering. It is an antique top I bought in 2014 from Cindy Diller Rennels. She is an antique quilt dealer I have gotten to know and buy from at the big shows. This one came from Paducah, April 2014.

When I bought it, I thought it was a Shoo-Fly block but upon closer examination, it is an X-block block with alternate white blocks between. Here are some detail shots:

This beautiful bright blue print is a Centennial print, with 1776 and 1876 printed on it along with many states' names. So the top is no older than 1876--I think it is somewhat newer than that--I will have to study it again closely to try to find the "newest" print:

Not the best Leader/Ender project as I will have to pre-assemble fabric groups if I want to create blocks with the same fabrics in each, and pre-cut a bunch of the white background. But it is certainly a contender.

What say you, quilt world friends? Would you make it as close to this as possible or use different background prints? Do you find it appealing?

In the next few posts I'll present a few others for consideration.

Let's quilt.

Barbara

The Journey #6

A bit more of a look-back at some of my early work:

The Journey #1
The Journey #2
The Journey #3
The Journey #4

The Journey #5

By the turn of the new Century I had two young men in college and was working full time during tax season, and part-time at several jobs, mostly quilt-related, the rest of the year. A lot of my quiltmaking involved making class samples--if I wanted to make it, I would create a sample to teach it.  Another passion that was developing--replicating antique quilts, in my collection or those I saw in publications or exhibitions. 

Yuletide Elegance, 1997, an original design for a simple Christmas quilt. One 12" block, a Carolina Lily, set on-point, with beautiful quilting designs on the large white alternate squares makes this an easy quilt and one that says "Christmas!" each December when I hang it in the living room. I have taught it several times. It was thrilling to have it featured on the cover of McCall's Quilting, December 1997.

Devil's Claw,  1999,  a replica of an antique quilt I bought. This taught me how much I love scrap quilts, those using lots of fabrics. I call it "Planned Scrappy" because each block has one fabric in common with all the rest and the star points, squares and rectangles in each block are the same, though different from every other block. It is hand quilted and one of my favorites:

Living in the Past, 2005, 70.5" square, based on a pattern by Alice Berg published in American Patchwork and Quilting, October 2000.  I hand quilted this quilt, using a feathered wreath in the large squares--which you cannot see because those are print fabrics. One of my most favorite quilts that I  made completely myself--and today it looks like a great Fall quilt:

A-Symmetrical Six-Pence, 2005. 93" x 109", made in a group swap of 13 quilters. We traded "units" with each other, specifying what colors we wanted, each person then cut the units to the size she wanted and created her own quilt design. This one spent a lot of time on the design wall as I worked to get the design flowing in one direction, then making a turn to the opposite direction: 

Bountiful Blocks,2006,  the pattern is Summer Rose by Glad Creations. Another quilt with lots of fabrics, long-arm quilted by Lisa Marshall. This hangs in my living room and brightens it up:

These are just a few of the many quilts I made in those years. At least another 12 bed size quilts and many wallhangings, crib and throw size quilts. Over the years I  have given away or sold many of the old class samples, there just isn't enough space to store them all. But I have lots more to make so stay tuned...

Let's quilt!

Barbara