Vintage Quilt Top and Quilting

Last June, after my siblings and cousins worked to clean out our grandparent's farmhouse in Ohio, I was the recipient of lots of vintage fabric, and four vintage quilt tops. Pictures here.

The fabric and three quilt tops were given away, to Monica @buttoncounter. This is the quilt top I kept after telling our 21 year-old granddaughter that I would finish a top for her, if she wanted.

As you can see, the top had only three borders, and no more border fabric was available. We don't know if it was actually made by our grandmother, or someone else.

Upon a closer look, two of the "borders" are actually pieced sashing. So, my only option was to remove the one border that was one long piece and cut it apart. Then, to make two borders, I redistribute the old fabric and added new reproduction fabric.

The quilt top is mostly hand-piece - very poorly, if I must say so. Lots of twisted seams. I just couldn't bring myself to take it apart and remake it. Where's the "charm" in that? 😊

I soaked the quilt top in our utility sink using a powder detergent recommended by Monica. It's Oxi-Clean Odor Blasters.

The water was filthy!

So much so that after rinsing the top, I gave it another soak and rinse. Better.

I wore disposable gloves to periodically slosh around the quilt. See the fabric's blue dye that came off onto the gloves?!

After a brief dryer tumble, I let it air dry, then pressed and made the changes to the borders.

This is the completed quilt top with light blue reproduction fabric added. Originally I had thought I would machine quilt. However, after seeing how un-flat and "poochy" the quilt top was, I decided I would only be machine-quilting tucks and puckers into it.

I pieced a backing from all the large pieces of blue fabrics I could find in my stash. I'm just not a "blue" person, so I had to use some creativity to pull this together. 

Knowing I would be hand quilting, I thread-basted (that took extra time!) the quilt sandwich. It includes a layer of pre-washed muslin behind the quilt top. Monica suggested that muslin would give stability to hand stitches, and the fabrics which are thin. I also used Quilter's Dream Wool to give the quilt loft and warmth.

I say that I'm hand quilting with a certain amount of my own disbelief, as this is a large quilt  - 67" X 88" - and I've never finished hand-quilting a large quilt!

But, I'm big stitch quilting. I am following Jen Kingwell's method of quilting random cross-stitches according to this YouTube video. My X's are about two inches apart, which should take care of any issues with flatness. It will only take me an eternity to complete.

I'm using size 8 Eleganza pearl cotton in the color "Heavy Skies" - a dusty blue. It's looking nice, but the color blends so well with the prints that it's difficult to see.

On the back, only a single stitch is visible. I've been quilting mostly in the daylight. There's no telling when I'll finish.

I've also begun quilting my 2019 temperature quilt on my Bernina 770QE. Though I really hoped to come up with an allover quilting pattern so as to get it finished, after two days of looking through Instagram, Pinterest, and my quilting books for design inspiration, I pulled out my trusty acrylic sheet to draw a few designs, and realized that I needed to spend time doing custom quilting. And so I am.

My ruler quilting foot is on my machine. I'm using a Fine Line ruler (the brand with two posts to hang onto) to quilt lines and arcs, and filling in with free motion quilting like circles, ribbon candy, wishbones, and zig-zags in whatever combinations I can think of.

I've continued to listen to audiobooks while hand and machine quilting. Here are three book reviews to start the new year!

When you become an audiobook fan - is that a bibliophile? or an audiophile? maybe a biblioaudiophile? -  you begin to recognize narrators' voices. I knew I'd heard Imogene Church before, and I had! She narrated some of my favorites: The Woman in Cabin 10; In a Dark, Dark Wood; The Lying Game; and The Death of Mrs. Westaway, so I was happy to listen to Ms. Church again in The Library of Lost and Found by Phaedra Patrick.

The story is about Martha Storm, a dowdy middle-aged woman who volunteers at the library. She seems content with her "I'm a nobody; I do everything for everyone else" life until an old book comes into her hands. She reads a hand-written dedication to... herself! Where did the book come from? Who wrote it? Martha recognizes the book's stories as told to her by her grandmother, and stories she told her grandmother who is now deceased. She must revisit her past. Of course, in the process of pursuing information, she learns that not all is as it seems, and she isn't the person she, or others, think she is.

Linda's score: 4.6/5.0

I picked up this book after The Library.... When an author is good, she's good! The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper, also by Phaedra Patrick was even better! Seldom does a book actually make me laugh out loud (this one did), and even more rare is a book that brings tears to my eyes (this one did). Narrator James Langton is excellent, but then I always enjoy listening to books that take place in the UK and are narrated in British accents.

We meet Arthur on the first anniversary of his wife's death, when he finally decides to go through her belongings and clean out. He unexpectedly discovers a charm bracelet he's never seen, and after finding a phone number engraved on the elephant charm, is curious enough to pursue learning more. He finds out about his wife's past - things he never knew - and in the process gets out of his routine and the confines of his house to discover more about himself, along with improving his relationships with son and daughter.

Linda's score: 4.8/5.0

I have previously enjoyed books written by Sally Hepworth, and The Mother-In-Law was no exception. The story takes place in Australia, uses a number of Australian idioms, and is narrated in an Australian accent. Win-win-win!

Whether you've had a mother-in-law or been a mother-in-law, you will likely relate to Lucy who marries Diana's son. From the start, though Lucy longs for a close relationship with Diana, there's an edge. However the author writes chapters in first person from Lucy's point of view and Diana's point of view, and both views seem perfectly reasonable.  But the rest of the story - family dynamics with Tom, Diana's husband (the couple is extremely wealthy) and their daughter and her husband (their desire for a baby) make for an intriguing story. When Diana dies from what appears to be suicide, and further investigation turns up different truths, you'll be wondering as I did, who could have done it?

Linda's score: 4.6/5.0

For me, 2020 is off to a great start! Linda