Today the quilt top I’m pulling from the quilt top cupboard is a pattern called Mosaic Tile.

*In the comment section my dear friend Martha noted that this pattern is also known as Kansas Dugout.

The quilt top is hand pieced and dates to the 1940’s-1950’s.

The hand piecing has nice even stitches.

The top has Nile green, aqua, lavendar, pink, dark blue, Royal blue, gray  and yellow.  A mix of prints and solids.

I thought if I added a narrow dark border I could add a wider one of a modern print and make the quilt top look more contemporary?

I found this top at a local garage sale and paid $3.

Since I made my Little Baskets on 6″ backgrounds I only had to make 160 to get a Queen sized quilt top.

This was one of those projects that was something I could do in between other things. I’d just do a block here and there and since they’re small it let me feel like I had gotten something accomplished even though I only spent a short time working on it.

I repeated my backgrounds, but made each basket different.

I’ve had a couple of projects that I’ve been working on as long term projects, but wanted to get at least one done so I could start something new.

The finished top measures 87″x95.5″.

Today I’m showing a quilt I bought at a block sale a couple of weeks ago.

It’s Amish style, but not Amish made.  It’s a Chinese import quilt, but one of the nicer ones that are sold in high end stores.  It’s made by  American Pacific Enterprises.

The quilt is machine sewn with 3″ nine patch blocks set with 3″ squares and alternating solid red squares.

The quilt came with two matching shams. I don’t use them..they just don’t “float my boat” and a true Amish quilt wouldn’t come with shams.

I paid $5 for the set.

It has some “issues”, which is why the seller was getting rid of them.

A polyester batting was used and the fibers are bearding out of the quilt.

Bearding is when tufts of the fibers come through the fabrics and form “beards” on the quilt.

I don’t like Polyester batting for that reason. Years ago it was all we could get and some of my early quilts which were used pretty heavily no longer have any batting in them.

A few years ago I had another quilt like this which I bought on ebay.  I’ve always been fond of Amish style quilts.

My DIL asked if I could make my son a robe from an old quilt. He had a habit of walking around the house with a quilt wrapped around him and she thought if he had a robe it would leave his hands free to do things. My pics aren’t the best…they are pre-digital camera and before I knew I might blog it some day.

I used the quilt I had, which was a twin size and had to add a bit to the length.  The blue and black stripes at the bottom weren’t original. I have to admit, that even though I hadn’t made the quilt it was hard for me to cut into it!

The quilting is pretty standard Amish style designs.

There are feathered wreaths in the solid red setting blocks, and  straight lines quilted through the double nine patches.

There are pumpkin seeds quilted in the squares of the inner border, with echo quilting in the setting triangles of the that border.

The corner squares of the inner border have a flower design.  In my pic of that red corner square you can see more bearding.  It’s really a shame that Poly batting was used.

The outer border has a feathered vine design. I took a pic from the back side because the black quilting on the black border didn’t show up very well in my pics.

A true Amish quilt would have a little more quilting added.  There would be quilting in the ditch around all blocks and borders.  They usually fill all of the spaces in the design with quilting.

Today the quilt top I’m pulling from the quilt top cupboard is a Flyfoot pattern. The top is hand pieced, and dates to the 1930’s. The blocks are 9″ finished.  It also goes by many other names including:

Battle Ax of Thor, Catch Me If You Can, Chinese 10,000 Perfections, Devil’s Dark Horse, Devil’s Puzzle, Favorite of the Peruvians, Heart’s Seal, Indian Emblem, Mound Builders, Spider, Virginia Reel, Wind Power of the Osages, Winding Blades, Whirligig, Zig Zag, and of course the one that may be most familiar to you, the Swastica.

You may be wondering why there are so many names for this pattern?  It’s because it’s a very old symbol which has been used by many cultures throughout time.  It has even been found on stone age rock carvings.

The symbol has been used throughout history by the Greek, the Celts, and Scandinavian people, The Basque people, the Mayans of Mexico, Navajo Native Americans, by early Christians, and  by the Hindu and people of India, and of course the more well known symbol of the German Nazi party.

The symbol has been used to represent well being, fertility, good fortune, Thor, Christ, good luck, and as a symbol in music meaning “repeat”.  You can find a lot more info about this symbol and it’s history, along with photos of quilts with the symbol on Patricia and James Cummings blog, Quilter’s Muse.

It’s a cheerful pattern in my opinion with a look of movement to it?  It’s such a shame that the symbol was adopted and used by the Nazi’s and that is what the symbol is so often thought of to represent?

There’s also another blog Svasticross, that’s devoted to the symbol in architecture and the arts and posts pics found throughout the World.

Here I show some of the cheerful 1930’s fabrics used in the top.

I have a couple more tops in my collection too. Because of the negative associated with the pattern most people don’t want them or use them if they come down through the family.

I have a butter crock I got at a tag sale several years ago.  I paid 25¢ for it, and got it for it’s novelty.

It’s a little difficult to see, but the crock has the symbol along the upper and lower edges in the light blue band,  and on either side of the word Butter. It has a symbol in the center of the lid as well.

This crock predates the 1940’s when the symbol was adopted by the Germans.

Just a little note:  I took a couple of pics of the quilting on the Amish style quilt under the crock for Jovita, who asked for them in the comment section.  I hope to get a full view pic of the quilt and hopefully, will post all of the pics next week since there’s some interest in it.

Just a quick note to let you know I survived the surgery.  The cancer was bigger than it appeared on the surface. A couple of additional incisions were made to harvest skin to cover the wound.  One is hidden in the curve of my nostril and one goes just inside the nose.

Right now one nostril sits quite a bit higher than the other and my top lip hangs over the bottom making it difficult to eat. I’m told this is temporary and everything should go back in place.  I’m hopeful.

I wasn’t prepared for all of the swelling I have and that’s what’s causing me the most pain right now.  It’s difficult to sit and look down, which is why I didn’t post a quilt from the cupboard this week. Next week we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled program. 

The quilt top I’m pulling from the quilt top cupboard today is a vintage Ocean Waves.

It dates from the 1930’s-40’s and is done scrappy style.

The yellow solid setting fabric got a bit washed out in this pic from the sun.  It’s a bit richer in real life.

The top is machine pieced and contains a wide range of fabrics that were common in the era it was made.  It may have been made from scraps left over from sewing, but could have been made from scraps that were sold for pennies a pound through mail order? I can just imagine how exciting it would  have been to order a couple of pounds of scraps and wait to see what you got!

The Ocean Waves pattern is one of my favorites.

I have several tops in my collection and have made a couple as well.

I plan on quilting this one some day. 

Today the top I’m pulling from the quilt top cupboard is a Jacob’s Ladder design.  The blocks are 12″ finished, and the top measures about 60″x 72″.

Quite often we see this block set with sashing, but this top is set block to block.

Setting the blocks without sashing makes the blocks form a secondary pattern.

The top has two oranges, red, lavender, white, and turquoise, all solids.

This is what one block looks like on it’s own.

The top is hand pieced.  The solids are hard to date, but I can guess it was made around the 1940-50’s by the fact that it has so many poverty patches, and the lady I talked to at the estate sale where I bought it said she found it when clearing out her Mother’s house.  She helped me guess when the top was made.

Poverty patches (where two pieces of the same fabric are sewn together to get a piece of fabric big enough to cut the pattern piece from) were very common during the depression and war years. (1930’s-40’s) Times were tough and people had to make do.

After World War II, when the military people returned home and got jobs, especially in factories, times were better for most and using every little scrap for quilting/sewing wasn’t necessary.  Using poverty patches wasn’t as common then.

The top is clean and crisp.  I don’t have any immediate plans to quilt this top.

The subject of needing a quilt has come up again from my son…so I asked him why he didn’t want the String  Quilt I made him for his Birthday.  He said he did want it…but at the time really needed the Birthday cash.  He didn’t say he’d like both, because he thought that would be greedy?

He saw me working on the quilt and admired it. He noticed the piece of fabric he had bought me was in there, and thought how pretty it looked with the fabrics I had put with it. They were after all, his favorite colors.

I asked him if he would like it…and received a hearty “yes!”.  I went upstairs and fetched it. When I brought it to him  he hugged it to his chest, grinning from ear to ear.  I tell you friends..you just can’t buy happiness like that! LOL  So…the quilt went to it’s new home…where it was meant to be. 

I’ve gotten word on my needed surgery too.  It was approved by my insurance, and is scheduled for Aug 16.  At first I was told the soonest they had an opening was Oct 22.  That’s a long way off! I asked if there was a list I could be on…to be called if there was a cancellation and when the scheduler went to write my name she found there was a note on her desk of one, which hadn’t been put into the computer yet. So, I grabbed it!

We are all pretty aware that our ozone layer has changed. “They” say to use sunscreen, but “they” don’t really tell us what to look for as signs we may have a problem.  So…let me tell you about some things you should look for, in the hopes that knowledge is power. The sooner we find problems and have them checked, the better our outcomes, and the less invasive the treatment will be.

There are 4 different kinds of skin cancer, and here are some things you should look for. If you find you have any of them..don’t be afraid..just go to a Dr. and have them checked. Most skin cancers are slow growing, and early detection is best. OR..it might be nothing.

Look for…

#1. Any change in a mole, especially the A,B,C,D’s

(A) Asymmetry:  One side of the mole is different than the other side.

(B) Border:  The edges of the mole are jagged or appear fuzzy.

(C) Color:  The color of the mole is not consistent and includes shades of brown, black, pink, or red.

(D) Diameter:  The mole is larger than a quarter of an inch.

#2. Any lump, bump, or pimple that doesn’t seem to go away. Don’t assume it’s nothing..or just a colorless mole. This could be a  basal cell blastoma..the most common skin cancer there is.  In some people they can be present for decades without any symptoms.

#3. A brown scaly patch of skin.

#4. While many of us get freckles, or sun spots with exposure to the sun, look at your skin and note the color of them. If you have any that are quite a bit darker than the rest..it is considered “Atypical”, or not normal for you. Have it checked.  The spot doesn’t have to be large, in fact if it’s small..that’s good. It’s much easier to treat any problem when caught early.

It doesn’t matter if you have a light, medium, or dark complexion. We are all at risk.  Bob Marley, the Reggae singer died from Melanoma. He was black.

Please..check yourself and those you love…and remember to use sunscreen! 

The piece I’m posting today is a “what’s it”?  Please forgive my photography..it wasn’t easy to get a pic of the whole thing.

I found this piece at the end of the day at a yard sale. It had a tag on it that said $2.  I figured a quilt top was worth that, bought it, and brought it home.

When I opened it out I was surprised to see that it was narrow and very long.  Too long to be a bed quilt.

The blocks are 4″ finished and the piece measures at roughly 44″x 180″.  The piece is machine sewn.

It’s hard to guess the date it was made because the fabrics are a solid color.

If I split the piece in half and arranged it as a square it would be around 88″x 90″.  Queen bed sized.  I probably won’t do that..as I don’t find the piece all that attractive. Is it OK to say that?

I’m wondering what it was intended to be?  Any thoughts out there?

It has a story..and it’s not a happy one.

Last Fall my son said he could use a new quilt..his was getting worn.  He uses his quilts hard..not leaving it on the bed, but taking it wherever he goes.  He also has two large dogs that sleep on the bed.  A quilt with fine hand quilting seemed a bit silly? So much time invested in something that would “used up”.

I had just finished the hexagon Leap Frog quilt. The color scheme had been pulled from a piece of fabric my son had gotten me for Christmas.  I thought a String quilt made from those same fabrics would be nice, ..and I could machine quilt it, just as I did the hexagon quilt?  I was sure he’d like the colors/fabrics since they were pulled from a fabric he chose?  I used fabrics without any flowers, so it would have a masculine feel.

I saved up my junk mail so I could use the paper as a foundation for piecing my blocks.

It’s free..and I sure do get a lot!  I might as well put it to good use?

I folded the paper so I could get a square and trimmed off the extra.

I was ready to sew!  When foundation piecing through paper set your stitch length a little shorter to perforate the paper more for easy removal..and so the stitches don’t pull.

I cut my stripe fabric into strips that were 2″ wide.  Then I folded them in half lengthwise so I could snug them into the fold I made on the paper.

I pinned the strip in place so it wouldn’t shift and was ready to sew the strips of fabric that I had cut at 1.5″ wide.

The strips could have been cut a variety of widths, but I decided to keep them all the same.

I lined up my first strip, face down along the edge of the striped fabric and sewed a 1/4″ seam, right through the paper.

Then I opened out the fabric and ran my fingernail along the seam to crease it and keep it laying flat.  A wallpaper seam roller works great for this too.

I kept adding strips to both sides of the striped fabric until I had the paper covered.

Then I flipped the block over so I could see the paper and trimmed the edges.

Nice and neat..easy peasy.  I removed all of the paper while watching TV one evening.

Then I took all of my blocks and laid them out on the bed to arrange them so I didn’t have the same fabrics up against each other.

It was at this point that my husband came into the room and said it was the ugliest quilt he had ever seen.  Well..that sure took the wind out of my sails..and I didn’t want to give a gift that was hideous..so I tossed the blocks in a box and set them aside.

A friend asked about the string quilt I had mentioned as I was working on it later, and I told her the story.  She said it couldn’t be that bad..how about showing a pic of it? So..I posted a pic of a couple of rows sewn together on my Flickr page.

I got comments that it was pretty..and a couple of people marked it as a favorite.  By this time Christmas was over..but I started to think maybe I should go ahead and finish the quilt? It might not be that bad?

With my son’s Birthday approaching..and some little “hints” of things he might like as gifts..I decided to get that quilt put together and quilted for him.  In the past I’ve given the boys money for their Birthdays so they can get whatever they wanted.  That custom sort of evolved because it was their preference, but with the “hints” I thought it was his way of telling me he’d rather have gifts?

It was now July and less than 3 weeks until his Birthday. I got the top together and borders added. I got the top basted and was ready to machine quilt it. I was stopped in my tracks when I found the quilting foot to my machine wouldn’t go on.  That foot  hadn’t been returned to me when I had the machine serviced last Summer.  I notified them right away and they sent me the foot, which I put away so it wouldn’t get lost. To my horror..I found they had sent me a foot for a different model!

OK..now I have 2 weeks until his Birthday and there’s no way I can get a replacement foot in time. I fiddled with other feet..and found the machine still had the problems I thought had been fixed. This quilt is NOT going to be machine quilted.

I decided to try big stitch quilting.  I’m not a fan of tied quilts, and didn’t think it would hold up to heavy use?  Big stitch quilting seemed to be the best option? I wanted to try it anyway.

I had a ball of aqua crochet thread here that I thought would work great? Surely 175 yards would be enough?

I looked through my supply of needles and found a Tapestry needle with a big enough eye to get the thread through.

I started my stitching and quickly realized the needle had a blunted point.

It made the stitching very difficult. I zipped out to the store and got a pack of Chenille needles. A size 22.  They are nice and sharp and made the stitching much easier.  I found the needle a bit difficult to pull through the layers, so I cut the tip of a finger off a latex glove and wore that as I stitched.  It made a world of difference!

I decided to stitch along each side of the stripe first and I’d go back and do more quilting in each block later.

Our temps here were HOT. It was in the 90’s and we don’t have central air.  Normally I don’t quilt in the Summer and do applique projects instead, but I had a deadline…so I sat the fan right in front of me and stitched like a mad woman.

I ran out of the blue once I got all of the stripes quilted so I had no choice…I switched to white crochet thread.

My son was here several times while Iwas working and never made a comment.  That’s not unusual. The guys rarely say anything about my quilts.

On the Friday before his Birthday he brought his dogs over for me to watch for the weekend. He was going out of town to a friend’s lake for the annual boat races.  He asked me if I was going to give him money for his Birthday..and I was surprised..but said “No…I got the feeling you might like gifts better?  I bought you something..and I’ve been making this quilt for you.  Why?..Would you have preferred the money?”  He said..”Well..I really could use it…and I was hoping I could get it early. ” I was a little stunned, but..I gave him the gift I had bought and $50 and he went on his way.

I felt gutted.  I’d been working my tail off in extreme heat for 3 weeks…and he’d rather have “beer money”?  Maybe he thought the quilt was ugly too?  I thought my gift from the heart and from my hand would be appreciated..and maybe even loved? Maybe he thought I’d give it to him anyway..so why not get the money too?

It made me wonder..do I place a lot more importance on the act of making and giving a quilt than the recipient does? It’s not the first time I’ve given a quilt as a gift and it wasn’t appreciated.

On Monday I went in for three biopsies. Possible skin cancer.  I was told I’d get the results in about a week.  I was already feeling hurt..the rejection of the quilt felt like a rejection of me too.  Now my body and face were wounded too…and the thought of facing a nasty surgery on my face has been heavy on my mind.

I’ve been wondering…why do I spend so much time, energy, and money on quilting? Is it just time and resources wasted? My family doesn’t seem to care for the type of quilts I make. Is continuing to make them madness?

After a LOT of thought…no.  I don’t think so?  While it may not make sense to some…having a needle and thread in my hand is calming.  Touching and seeing the fabrics, their colors, their designs..feeds my soul.  The texture of the quilting..the dimension it adds to the piece, The rhythmic up and down of the needle as it sews, the vast number of blocks, settings, color combos, and techniques keep my brain active. There’s always  a new challenge for me if I feel like I want one. I can also do tried and true favorites.  They’re like like familiar friends. I like learning the history of fabrics and patterns..and a lot of women’s history is written through needle and thread.  AND I like to think about the person I’m making the quilt for.  Actually, quilting allows a lot of time for quiet contemplation.  I’ve worked through a lot of things that were heavy on my mind while quilting.

I spend a lot of time alone, due to my husband’s traveling for his job.  Quilting gives me a reason to get up in the morning.  It allows me to have some control over some things, while I can’t have control of a lot of the things that happen around me.  I quilt because I NEED to.

Sorry this post was so long….sometimes you just have to let things out..get them off your chest?