Men Quilt, two

Since it's the second day of Men Quilt, Too, I thought I'd show my second and third quilts.

These were made in 2001-2002. This is the Old Maid's Puzzle Pattern. All solids, lots of black. Rob and I made it. He picked fabrics and colors and I put it together. He pressed seams to help speed the process.

Here it is after quilting. I quilted a quarter inch inside of each piece with a black thread. And, in the outer border, straight lines at 1" intervals.

I even gave credit to both of us in the border. This is what passed for a label for me, back in the day.

I even found this picture of me doing something. It couldn't have been quilting, because there's no hoop. It shouldn't have been basting, but I'm not making any promises. Maybe I was just sewing the back over the front to keep the batting from snagging on everything.

Now, Quilt three has a much more interesting story. It was a UFO. One my Mom had started and lost the instructions for...see a connection here? Anyway, she had all the blocks assembled and I think most of them were already quilted in a quilt as you go way. I did not know what to do. I knew I didn't like the white polyester they were mounted on and they had a poly batting. So....

I took every block apart. I picked out the quilting and the applique. I replaced fabrics that were too fragile. And, I made a few new fans. I mounted them to a nice cotton muslin and pieced them together. And, then, I managed to stumble up on some of the green she'd used in the fan centers. I think I bought all they had and used it in borders and supplemented not having enough with the blue I used on the back.



And, you can see, I hand-quilted the devil out of it. I put a lot of hand quilting in it, through a cotton batting. I'm don't know how I got such small stitches considering that.

I don't remember exactly when I gave it to my Mom. Must have been in 2002, tho.

Yesterday's quilt show was a ton of fun. We met LD there and she was a true delight. Pleasant, happy, and with her own opinions about the art of quilting. She'd never been to a quilt show and said it had been years since she'd been to anything like that. But, she had a great eye for tiny stitches and color combination. We stood in front of one quilt and discussed why the quilt didn't work in very hushed voices, each with a different opinion, both strong opinions and both of us willing to think our own thoughts. But, we absolutely agreed that the quilt wasn't working.

There were lots of beautiful quilts and some funny quilts and a couple of quilts that didn't come out right, but people finished anyway. One was so funny; it was buckled and wonky and had potatoe chip borders, but it was a fabulous batik texas star and I can see why the maker just had to finish it and enjoy it, despite the flaws. I don't know who quilted it, but the machine quilting in it was fabulous, especially considering what the quilter had to work with. Maybe it was a first quilt top that was quilted after much experience.

Anyway, there were almost as many vendors as quilts. I didn't buy too much from them, but this quilt guild had a "faburlous" boutique. I spent $32 total and got all the below. Some scraps and leftovers from one of the vendors and a hard and a half of new fabric, but the rest is from the boutique. A dozen fat quarters and that gallon jar is full of 2.5" squares to feed into my scrap users system.


Thinking about using all these fabrics to make a quilt for LD to commemorate the day. She shared a crazy quilt with me that I'll feature in a few days. It was so kind and now that I know the history, i know how to proceed with restoration.

Everybody have a great Sunday.

Lane