Monday, February 24, 2020

Vintage fabrics, pigs ears, and other things

Last weekend was my local quilt guild's Quilt Show - my guild being the Pajaro Valley Quilt Association in Santa Cruz County, California. I'll just say right off, it was another great show, featuring our many, many talented members and their fabulous quilts. I won't talk too much about the quilts as I have no pictures to post. I took a few with my iphone 5 which is barely limping along these days, and among other deficits, can no longer send photos. And I didn't want to lug my ipad around the show. Anyway...

I spent an inordinate amount of time at the Bargain Garden (aka flea market), digging around for buried treasures. The first thing I look for is anything "vintage" so no surprise that I honed in immediately on the above blob of interesting looking stuff.

 Yes, its a vintage top!

Sort of ugly and lots of stitching crimes, but....


 you can see there are some pretty cool old fabrics here


 including a lot of great shirtings

 and all in pretty good shape.

Being a Log Cabin, there are no big pieces, but the strips finish at 2" so still have lots of possibilities. I am already in the process of deconstructing the blocks and thinking of ideas - lots of ideas - of what to make with them. As you've probably guessed, I'll be making them into doll quilts of various sizes and designs.

And that was just the beginning! Multiple days of digging yielded all kinds of yummy stuff.




  I got off with quite a haul, including several large backing-type pieces (not shown) and I stayed just under my allotted budget. I am going to have so much fun with this!

Meanwhile, you may remember this picture of my design wall a while back, all goodies gleaned from some vintage blocks my MIL gave me, some having already become little quilts.


I decided I wanted to work with that little block on the bottom next.


Here's a closer look, and you can see it has serious issues. It was cut to within an inch of its life for one thing, meaning most seam allowances disappeared. And look at the way-too-tiny blue triangle on the upper right. Plus, its significantly stained. I probably should have rejected it as unworkable, but I thought it was so darn cute and wanted to give it a try. 


I decided I could replace both the blue corners with some shirting fabric that's very similar to the dot fabric in the block (you can see it poking out from behind the block) and work around or accept the other issues.  

I did a simple frame with fabrics from my "vintage" stash, which I think worked well together.


Sewing the little black border around the block without cutting off its points required good dose of spray starch, some hand stitching and a bit of magical thinking. It held up through washing and drying, so that's a good sign!

It washed up a LOT cleaner, too.

 

I "Hand quilted" it by machine, my usual MO these days.

This was sort of like trying to make a silk purse out of a pig's ear, but I like how it turned out, especially after washing and drying it, giving it the crinkled effect. I just love how it feels!


And that, my dear friends, is my Monthly Mini for February!

I might not be able to do an official link-up at the end of the month due to not having access to my desktop for a couple of weeks, but I'll try to do it from my ipad. At any rate, just go over to Wendy's blog on March 1 and you should be able to see all the other Montly Mini's.

love,
Sandy



13 comments:

  1. Oh I love your monthly mini - you framed it perfectly and it's so graphic and pretty. Nice find at your "Bargain Garden" (what a cute term) - nothing beats shirtings!

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  2. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, pics, and the details. You have truly come to the rescue. I probably would have just quilted that log cabin. LOL But you will have something nicer when you finish.

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  3. What a fabulous mini! Silk purse indeed! It is hard to believe it started out with that poor little block. What a great rescue! And what a haul at your group flea market. Wow! Ours are never that exciting. Good for you! I will link your mini in tomorrow. Thanks for another great mini!

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  4. I love your old block finish. Hunting for vintage tops and blocks and making them useful again is my favorite thing.

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  5. I love how you made that orphan block into your mini of the month--so sweet! I think I would have spent a lot of time at that flea market area as well, you found some awesome treasures and will have way too much fun using them. I've been seriously thinking of updating my iPhone--I have a 6s, but really don't look forward to spending that kind of money on something that isn't fabric--lol!

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  6. I'm so glad you found that top! That was the only vintage Top this year but I was really happy to see all the quilts except two found good homes! I think you showed great restraint! My pile 'o goodies is much larger but at $5 / lb. it's hard to resist!

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  7. What a sweet vintage block! It looks amazing. Don't you love how quilters ages ago didn't hesitate to cut triangles and put the bias on the outer edge? And how they used two different fabrics as this quilter did for the white blocks beside the red ones? So charming! (And challenging when wants to save a block with so little seam allowance.)
    I'm headed to a local quilt show on Friday with the simple intent of hoping to find some great fabrics and books at their flea market. You found some wonderful treasures.

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  8. What a precious little quilt you created with this nearly for gotten orphan block!

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  9. A quilter's Bargain Garden sounds like heaven to me! You really struck gold!
    And I had to laugh at the line "lots of stitching crimes". So there is such a thing as quilt police! :)
    Your little mini creation from the salvaged block is precious. You must have so much fun rescuing old fabrics and making them feel loved again.

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  10. Oh, Sandy, you struck it rich with all those goodies! Looks like that was a great sale! And I love your February mini and the way you salvaged that little block. So sweet!

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  11. Lots of great inspiration in your new goodies. Love your mini too, those fabrics work beautifully together.

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  12. Your digging definitely rewarded you with some treasures. The fabrics in the log cabin blocks are great. Love what you made with the vintage block. Your mini is so sweet and a lovely way to recycle and rescue a block that someone had long ago rejected.

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  13. Love your Feb mini! I have purchased old orphan blocks with the intent to center in small quilts - just haven't actioned that plan yet :)

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