Midwest Quilts

Charity Afghan

2018-07-24T01:54:00.003-05:00

Just a quick post to show a finished afghan that was made with help from HeartStrings, Sunshine Quilters, and TreadleOn groups that I belong too. This is just one of many afghans that will be made and assembled by others besides me that will all be donated to charity. I just wanted to update everyone and show what many hands can do! Thanks again for all your help.

Vintage Quilt Top

2017-07-02T23:02:00.003-05:00

I was in Colorado the first part of June and found this great utility quilt top at a thrift store. I like shirtings and I love utility quilts. So I purchased it and this weekend I basted it and machine quilted it with a simple cross hatch then bound it in a reproduction fabric. I am very pleased with how it turned it.

String Quilt

2017-06-29T13:44:00.001-05:00

Here are some quick pics of a string quilt I recently finished from group blocks for HeartStrings, it measures roughly 48 x 62 inches. Was quite fun and was quilted in a fun square type meander.

New Treadle Sewing Machine

2017-06-26T23:06:00.001-05:00

I just recently purchased this treadle sewing machine at an auction for a little bit of nothing. I am hoping to be able to find a correct shuttle bobbin and slide plate as well as a bobbin for this machine. I am posting pictures here so my friends on a vintage sewing machine sight can help me out.

It has been quite a while....

2017-06-23T13:37:00.003-05:00

But since I have moved, and my health has improved greatly, I have been working on some charity quilts for a couple groups that I belong too. Sunshine Quilts and Heartstrings Quilt Project. It certainly feels good to start getting back to doing the things that I love to do.

Here are a few photographs of the quilts. Sorry about the lighting, my lawn is very shady which is wonderful in the summer, but not so much for photographs.

Fair Time

2015-08-14T00:56:00.000-05:00

I made this quilt from my grandmother's dresses, blouses, and aprons as a memorial quilt. I only used fabrics that I remembered her wearing, thus when sad or feeling depressed, I can wrap myself in this quilt and get a hug from my gradmother. I then hand quilted it, and shed many tears. It took me almost 10 years to complete. This year I finished it, and decided to enter it in the county fair where it won a ribbon.

Orange Selvage Strings

2015-05-30T23:12:00.001-05:00

I assembled these groups blocks this evening, and added the borders. I think its cheerful!

Easy Pinwheels

2015-05-17T21:13:00.001-05:00

Since I make a lot of charity quilts, and tend to use fabric that has been donated. I really like this method of making pinwheels, especially when you have a single square of fabric.

2015-05-11T09:46:00.001-05:00

Not to much has happened this week. Just wild weather here in the plains, lots of rain, tornadoes around us. Been slowly working on cutting out quilts, knitting socks, and trying to keep laundry caught up.

I am not much of a applique quilt maker, but I have been getting a itch to make a simple applique quilt. I will see if I still feel like it once I get fabric picked out for it.

Its from the book Scrap Quilts from the Depression. And I think Lori is working on the cover quilt.

Design Wall Monday

2015-05-04T11:24:00.001-05:00

I am working on making four patches from shirting prints. Just fun mindless sewing, I can just push it through the needle and think about other things, but still being productive.

A Break from Yarn

2015-05-02T13:20:00.003-05:00

I got a little bored with all the afghans I had crocheted this past month. So I decided to make a couple smaller things. I made this Lily of the Valley Doily from one of my vintage pattern books. Both of the ones shown below have a date of 1938.

Cutting and more cutting

2015-05-01T10:08:00.001-05:00

I tend to like to have quilt tops ready to sew when I feel like working on them. However, I dislike cutting the least of all aspects of making a quilt. So I have been busy cutting on pieces for quilts. Multiple quilts. I cut all the pieces and make a sample block, and then store them. These are the two that I cut out this morning.

Using up yarn stash....

2015-04-30T13:08:00.000-05:00

Here is another afghan that I finished up this morning for donation. I wonder if I will ever get through this yarn stash?

Afghans for donation....

2015-04-29T11:00:00.001-05:00

These are the afghans I have made for donation in the past couple weeks. Not the prettiest either. But they will work for baby's to keep them warm. Since I use yarn from thrift stores and from people leaving leftover yarn with me, I make them as large as I can.

On the needles....

2015-04-28T07:00:00.000-05:00

or should I say hook....another donation afghan....will post better pictures when its complete...

Design Wall Monday

2015-04-27T07:00:00.000-05:00

I am working on quilting this quilt that my Great-Great Grandmother made. Mattie Kellums was born in Illinois, but homesteaded in western South Dakota in the 1880's. She lost her mother very young, and was married to another Homesteader in the late 1890's in South Dakota on Christmas Day. His name was John Houston Kellums, also from Illinois. They as a couple, then homesteaded in what is now the North Platte River Valley in the Panhandle of Nebraska. I date this quilt top from about 1900 to 1910, because I feel that it is a Mourning Quilt. One of her sons was killed from a horse fall about that time, and I believe this quilt top was made then, and put away. Mattie lived and continued quilt until her 90's, passing away in 1961. In 1960, when a grandson was born, she made him two baby quilts, which are still in the family.

Mattie is the motherly looking person with white hair. The lady to the left is my great-aunt Ena, who was a great quilter, and the other woman on the right is my great-grandmother Maude.

Pincushions....

2015-04-26T11:22:00.002-05:00

Every once in a while at an estate sale I will see an interesting pincushion so I will pick them up. I loved this rooster, with a thimble holder and retractable tape measure coming from its gizzard.

Talula Gilbert Bottoms

2015-04-26T07:00:00.000-05:00

Talula Gilbert Bottoms is one of my favorite productive quiltmakers. She quilted because it brought her peace during a happy but also sad life. Her granddaughter wrote a book about here, and then later, there is also a book with all of her patterns. And more quilts.

Hit and Miss Quilt Top

2015-04-25T07:00:00.000-05:00

This quilt top I love, an old fashioned utility quilt. One that I will big stitch hand quilt with Baptist Fans. I love the movement, and how some of the plaids in the quilt are cut on the bias. It is all hand pieced and a nice size for the age of the top.

Thrift Store Find...

2015-04-24T07:00:00.000-05:00

I found this wonderful hand appliqued 1930's Butterfly and Flowers quilt top at a local thrift store for $1.95. When paying for it the lady said it had bleach stains. Which you can see. The damage isn't beyond repair, but I believe I will reset the entire top with lavender, just the way it is now, someday.

Utility Quilts

2015-04-23T07:00:00.000-05:00

Does any one make Utility Quilts anymore? You know use what you have, make do, and just quilt it with big stitches or tie it with wool yarn. I needed some warm quilts to use under my good quilts, so I been busy making a few utility quilts made out of what is on hand. This one used up various pieces of scrap that I had, and I used four pieces of flannel on the back, rolled the backing up to the front to be used as binding, and its tied with wool yarn. Why wool? Because the ties won't come undone when washed, they will felt and keep the layers tight. Just be sure not to use Superwash Wool.

Susan McCord

2015-04-22T07:00:00.000-05:00

At a local thrift store, I found a original copy of Susan McCord's Henry Ford Museum exhibition catalog. I was very pleased to find this copy.

Susan McCord (1829-1909) was an Indiana farm wife who had 7 children, loved to garden and quilted for over 50 years. Like other quilters, she drew from her extensive bag of fabric scraps-choosing patterns, colors and techniques to make quilts. But she put all these elements together in ways that were highly original. As stated from the Henry Ford Museum.

Butterflies is almost done.....

2015-04-21T07:00:00.000-05:00

The butterfly quilt is almost complete, the quilting is done, the binding is sewn on, all I need to do is turn the binding over to the back and sew it down.

Design Wall Monday

2015-04-20T08:02:00.001-05:00

Since last Monday, I got the Ohio Star blocks set together, now I am working on its borders. I am liking it so far. There was a slight breeze this morning outside when I took the picture, thus the wave of the top.

2015-04-19T10:02:00.002-05:00

Someone gave me two large leaf bags full of acrylic yarn. It was all new Red Heart Super Saver, mostly in greens. I am making afghans for donation from the yarn. This one was made this week from that yarn.