I basted it on the dining room table by using large binder clamps.  I quilted it by following along the X shaped pieces, quilting in the ditch.  I thought I’d see how it looked once I got that much done and see if it looked like it needed more?

Since the blocks are around 7.5″, just quilting across the quilt in a grid seemed to be enough?

I chose a black and white print for the binding.

You can see a bit of the backing peeking out too.  I used an aqua/white print sheet.  The aqua doesn’t match exact..but it’s a scrappy fun quilt and I think it’s just fine?

I’m happy with how my quilt turned out, even if it’s got just real simple quilting. 

Here’s an “action shot”

There was one by Setsuko Inagawa that was really interesting.  Several of us wanted to try our hand at making some of the fun blocks.

Amy, of Badskirt blog drafted the block pattern.  She wrote up a nice tutorial on how to piece it.

Then Laura, of My New Blog Journey decided to post a quilt along for those interested in doing their own version of Setsuko’s quilt.  She started a Flickr group so we could post our blocks and progress.

My quilt ended up quite different from the one that inspired it.  It was fun to piece a block here and there as I felt like it though.  I used a variety of novelty prints and large scaled prints. I intended to just make a small quilt, but the blocks were addictive and I just had to keep making them.  I opted for plain borders.

I liked the aqua print which I had bought a quarter yard of to use in my blocks.  I decided it would make a nice border and would keep that sort of “busy” look I was after.  When I went back to the store all they had left was 31″.  I took what they had.  I considered making narrow borders, but originally wanted wide ones.  I opted for using my second choice for border fabric and made two sides from each fabric in the width I originally wanted.

I’ll bind the quilt with one of the black prints I used in the quilt. 

That is…once I figure out how to baste the quilt.   I had tables in the basement for basting, but my son moved back home so I had to put them in storage. 

Maybe I can do it on the dining room table?  I thought I’d machine quilt it too?  It’s a “just for fun” quilt.

The blocks are fun to make and would be great for using up scraps.  The block would look great in 30′s repros, or solids, or whatever?  I included clickable links for anyone that would like to try them.

With borders my quilt wil be about 75″x 83″.

I rearranged the corner blocks from the way the original pattern was done. 

I still need to make the four borders.

I need motivation to get moving on this!

I left off some of the circles from the bottom right corner.

I changed the bottom left corner block a bit too.  In Kim’s original quilt this is the upper right corner.

I thought getting everything trimmed and sewn together would give me a little enthusiasm?  It seems my “get up and go” has “got up and left”? 

There hasn’t been a lot of sewing or quilting going on around here, but I did try my hand at some wonky piecing.

I cut curved strips of fabrics with my scissors and chopped and sewed and chopped and sewed to create a runner for the kitchen counter.   Doing this kind of piecing went against my years of trying to perfect precision piecing and it was much harder for me than I thought it would be.

My eye kept editing out curves and tried to make me sew straight lines!  LOL  I’m not thrilled with the result, but it will do.  I’ll play with this free style piecing again in the future for sure because it was fun.

I got a new stand mixer to try my hand at making bread and  some other baking recipes.  I’ve never had a mixer before, but those who have them tell me I’ll love it.  The color I ordered was called Pear.  I thought I’d like to make covers for the toaster and food processor and have a runner under the mixer.  Sort of give the kitchen a little boost of color.  It’s mostly all cream colored with lots of copper pans/accesories.  When I went out shopping for fabrics I found nothing that matched other than a solid that was pretty close in color and called Bamboo.  It was on clearance for $1 yard.  I bought what they had, which was about 5 yards.

I came home and dug around in my fabrics and pulled out some solids of colors that are in the kitchen and adjoining family room. I had no plan in mind.  I thought I was going to find a nice print and keep it very low-key and easy. So much for plans!

Here’s an “action shot”.  I didn’t quilt the runner because I’m not sure if I want to?

Definately needs some “tweeking”!  : )

I didn’t know anyone that quilted, there were no quilt shops, but there was a library!  It had a couple of books, which I brought home and started reading.  This was waaay before the internet.  It was over 30 years ago!  The knowledge I got from those books and the pics in the magazines was sketchy.  There were a lot of blanks.  I saw what I now know as Trapunto.  I loved the look and wanted to try it.  This wasn’t my first quilt, but it was early in my quilting.

I decided on a wall quilt, which I thought could be draped on a dining table as a decorating option if not hung?

I thought if I quilted a nice feathered vine border and then densely quilted the background area I’d get that look.

Umm..well, sort of?  I didn’t realize I was supposed to stuff the feather and vine bits!  LOL

I quilted it ridiculously close. I quilted the bejeebers out of it.  The rest of the quilt isn’t quilted as heavily, so it’s kind of a fail?  It isn’t perfectly square.  I could add more quilting, but it’s kind of pointless to spend more time on it

I was disappointed with the  outcome and folded it up and put it in a cupboard.

I thought maybe I’ll try that again later sometime?

I pulled it out recently and was surprised to see that one of the blue fabrics I used had a fugitive dye.  It’s fading, even though it’s never been exposed to light.

The cream colored fabric is just muslin.  It’s what I could find back then in the years when Polyester was king.  The blues were just what was available in my local fabric store.  Not heirloom quilt quality, so no matter that the quilt didn’t turn out the way I wanted.  It was a learning experience, as I like to say when things don’t go as planned….

Skip forward to a couple of years ago.  By this time I’ve read more books, seen more quilts, and magazines, and the wonderful internet is here! I have a better idea of how to do Trapunto.  I gave it another go…

This time I chose to do a whole cloth quilt.  It has a wreath of Oak leaves in the center, with branches of Oak leaves with acorns coming out from it, in a spoke-like fashion.   Very hard to photograph. 

Like the other quilt, this was folded and smushed into a cupboard so it has creases, and was pinned over another quilt for taking pics.  It’s not pretty.

It’s so difficult to get a good pic on this one.

I did better this time.  I stuffed the raised pieces with yarn that I thread through after quilting.

I’d like to tell you I’m very happy with my result this time…but I don’t want to lie to you.

Seriously, why did I use brown?  The finished piece has the appearance of a very fancy moving pad.  You know, the ones that are used to protect your belongings when packed on a moving truck?

I don’t know what I was thinking?

Oh well…it was a learning experience…..  ;

Today I’m pulling another Double Wedding Ring from the quilt top cupboard.

I’m the one that pieced it.  I didn’t have a destination in mind for it when I made it, I just wanted to try the pattern, so it hasn’t been quilted. 

As you can see by the colors, I made it in the 1990′s when there were a lot of Amish inspired quilts being made.

I’d like to quilt this one. but now I’m thinking it would be a good idea to add another row to the width?  It was made for a full sized bed, and I’m finding that a lot people have Queen sized beds..or larger!  I have a large baggie with extra pieces.  I cut too many, which I do sometimes.  It gives me more options for choosing the pices as I sew them together…BUT  I’m not sure I have more of that same black?  I could applique the edges to a solid of some color and have straight edged borders? I’m undecided..so back in the cupboard it goes..to age a bit.  ;)

This is the only photo I have of the top and it looks a bit washed out?  In real life it’s much richer.

Here’s a version of a Double Wedding Ring I made for a girl my older son was dating several years ago.  She was a sweet girl and came over to walk my dog every day when I had surgery and wasn’t able to do it.

She had some “family issues” and felt a bit lost sometimes.  We had a lot of talks.

She had a love for all things Celtic and I thought if I pieced the arcs with a solid black the pattern might have a Celtic knot feel?

I quilted a message into the corner of the quilt, then whipped embroidery floss around the stitches so the words showed up better.  I don’t know if that method  has a name..but it worked well.  I also quilted in a spider web in the corner of one of the larger areas.  The others have a Celtic knot/floral design.   In Victorian times spider webs were added to crazy quilts quite often.  They were thought to be like a dream catcher and were good luck symbols.

The  message says:

If you’re feeling lonely, or if you’re feeling sad, just wrap yourself inside your quilt, and things won’t be as bad.  No matter where you go in life, no matter what you feel, this quilt will be here for you, it’s something that is real.

Today’s quilt top cupboard offering is a Double Wedding Ring quilt.  It’s the  ”sister quilt” to the Joseph’s Coat quilt I posted last week.   It was aquired at the same garage sale, and was also made by Henrietta King.

The quilt is hand pieced and hand quilted with cotton batting.  The quilt dates to 1930′s-40′s and is pieced from cotton scraps and a good quality muslin.

The pieces may have been  the scraps from making clothing, but they may have been purchased as scraps from Sears or Montgomery Ward’s by mail order?  Both companies sold nice quality cotton scraps for just pennies a pound.  I can  imagine how excited the ladies were to have the parcel they had ordered arrive!

The quilt is in good condition, having been “packed away for years”.  It doesn’t appear to have been used very much before being packed away?

The quilt has a scalloped edge, which is common to the Double Wedding Ring pattern.

The quilting design is very much like a Celtic Knot in the large space and has a cross-hatching over the rest of the quilt.

This pattern was very popular at the time it was made, and the pattern remains popular to this day.  Most quilt collectors have at least one Double Wedding Ring quilt in their collections.

I’m usually drawn to the more unusual versions/colors of the pattern myself.

I’ve included the last pic for those of you who like to see a bit more of the vintage fabrics.  : )

Please note:  Since I changed blog themes the comment icon is now located above the post rather than after, like it used to be.  I don’t know why…it makes it kind of confusing!

One of the fabrics was a stripe on a white background and it has an unusual look compared to the other pieces.

The quilt is hand quilted and has a scalloped edge.

I recently found this quilt at a local garage sale.  It was being sold by the daughter of the quilt’s maker.  She thought it was odd that I wanted the name of the quilter, but when I explained that I like to have that sort of info so I can keep it with the quilt for future reference, she gave me the name.  I told it would be a shame if her Mother’s nice work was just annonymous.

I bought a “sister” quilt at the same time.  It has some of the same fabrics but is a different design.  There are a couple of spots here and there ( me too!) but overall they are in pretty good, usable condition.  The pair cost me $50.  I would spend more than that on just the materials to make a quilt myself, so I thought they were a bargain.  : )

I had to edit out quite a bit, but I was able to save enough to keep the original “flavor” of the blocks.  I hand stitched the blocks together and added a narrow indigo blue border followed by a double pink, and then an indigo binding.  It ended up 34.5″ x41″.

As I worked on the quilt I found optical illusions that changed depending how I looked at it.

I saw light backgrounds with pink and blue stars…

dark backgrounds with pink and white stars…

and pink backgrounds with blue and white stars.  I also saw what looked like Tumbling Blocks that would appear and disappear.  It’s a fun design!  I quilted it by “stitching in the ditch” rather than 1/4″ away from seam lines like originally thought I would.  I was afraid I’d get a “tent” in the centers.  The border has a simple cable design.

I had a few more pieces left that I didn’t want to waste, so I’m piecing some Tumbling Blocks and will either applique them onto a background or make another small piece? 

This was a fun little change…and has one of my all time favorite color combos.  I love double pink!  : )

He said it showed that something was going on…and maybe I should find a GI specialist?  I did.  A slew of blood tests, a stomach emptying study, and then a endoscopy gave us answers.  There was severe damage to my small intestine.  Several samples were taken for biopsy, and a diagnosis of Celiac Sprue was given.

Celiac Sprue is a severe “allergy’ to gluten, which triggers the immune system to attack the intestines.  It eats away the villi that absorb nutrients from the food one eats.  Mine are gone.  As a result I’ve been experiencing side effects of vitamin deficiencies, and malnutrition.  The treatment is to NEVER consume even trace amounts of gluten, which appears in almost all prepackaged foods and fast foods.  It hides in ingredient lists with the alias of modified food starch, dextrose,vegetable gum, stabilizer, emulsifier, flavoring, hydrolyzed vegetable protein, malt, maltidextrose,vegetable protein..and on and on.  I will get an IV treatment that will replenish what my system is lacking.  The villi should regrow, but it will take time.

It’s hard to get a diagnosis of Celiac disease because the symptoms vary from person to person.  Most people go through years of misdiagnosis, and suffer damage as a result.  Left untreated it can lead to intestinal lymphoma.  In my case the specialist thought I might be headed down that road.  She ordered a repeat of the CT scan to see if there was any change.  I’m happy to say I got a call late on Friday telling me my scan looked better! 

My friend Martha, of Q is for Quilter sent me a surprise package to lift my spirits.

The vintage blocks are beautifully hand embroidered and she sent a piece of vintage fabric to use with them.  Such an unexpected, generous gift.  I’m not feeling up to par yet, so it will be a while until I get into working with them, but they’re just beautiful!

Pratima from Peeps At The Peepal Tree sent me some beautiful hand printed fabric scraps left over from the quilt she made from them.  She tells a bit about the printing process on her blog.  They’re from Northern India.

She packaged the fabrics in a beautiful handmade drawstring bag with “Banjara work”, which is little mirrors held in place by needlework.  The Banjara tribe is famous for this type of work and it it’s commonly called Banjara.  I have a couple of long, full skirts with this same decoration on them and I love to wear them in the Summer.  I have such a fondness for things that are handmade.  Her generous gift was deeply touching.

She also sent a couple of Sandle Wood sachets in a cute little draw string bag.  These smell just heavenly!

I have a couple of the wood blocks used for fabric printing.  They’re hand carved.  It’s such s treat to have some of the hand printed fabrics! 

I’ve been spending a lot of time online reasearching info for dealing with this new challenge in my life, so haven’t been visiting the blogs I usually do… or  only visit sporadically.  Hopefully, as I start to heal  I’ll be feeling better and have more energy for the things that feed my soul?