Cheddar Baskets

My newest quilt, Make Mine Cheddar, made for the American Quilt Study Group's 2016 19th Century Basket Quilt Study. Every 2 years, the AQSG has a quilt study on a specific topic and one finds an antique inspiration quilt to reproduce in a small size (42" or smaller). I picked a cheddar orange Mennonite basket quilt from the late 1800s (see below). I chose to recreate it in 1/2 scale - 1/2 sized blocks (5") and 1/2 the number of blocks.

Make Mine Cheddar
31" x 31"
Sandra Starley

The original had only 3 fabrics but I'm a scrappy gal and so I used a different set of fabrics for each basket and then used all of those in the border. So I went from 3 fabrics to 27.

I paperpieced the baskets and sawtooth border and hand appliqued the handles. I machine quilted in the ditch to stabilize and then hand quilted the heck out of it with hearts, lines, and feathers.

1890 Mennonite Baskets
Southeastern PA
Starley Antique Collection

Quilted Moab

There is a great new retreat in Moab called Quilted Moab 2016, which will be held next week. This will only be the 2nd year but there is already a loyal following and awesome teachers and classes.
Come on down, over, up, etc.!

On Feb. 19th, I'll be teaching a unique class that is part paper piecing class and part antique trunk show. You get to work on creating a fun Flying Geese doll quilt while looking at lots of antique doll, crib, and children's quilts from the last 200 years. Guaranteed to be a LOT of fun!

Bloggers Quilt Festival - Art Quilts

Literally Challenging
Original Design
18" x 18"
Wools, Cottons, Lace

 This quilt recently came home after traveling for several years to national quilt shows with the Arts and Old Lace Challenge sponsored by Artistic Artifacts in VA.  I love Bloggers Quilt Festival time which is a great reminder to make and share ART

Here is what was included in the challenge packet: 2 sets of salesman's samples. Greys and black suitings and then summery stripes and woven checks, as well as laces and buttons.

I really enjoy paper piecing and making "word play" quilts using my own patterns.  I used more than 105 different fabrics from the packet and a lace for the ampersand. I only added 2 vintage laces and a woven tape binding (thanks Mom, for all 3).

OKAY, now time to see the rest of the Bloggers Quilt Festival quilts - enjoy. If you like my quilt you can vote this week at the viewers choice link or check back in a week and vote for it at the Art Quilts page.

Spring 2015 Bloggers Quilt Festival Page is HERE.

Art Quilts Page is HERE

Vote for Viewer's Choice HERE Nominations- May 15-21

VOTE for your Favorites in each category May 22-29
Winners Announced May 30, 2015

Word Play and Paper Piecing Fun in Minnesota

Yes, Minnesota but not until it warms up in June.  Come take a delightful paper piecing class and see how truly fun it can be.  Paper piecing is one of the best methods to create precise patterns without having to work hard.  Just sew on the lines and you get exactly what you sew.
It really is a lot of fun once someone shows you the tips and tricks.  I'll be teaching my Word Play class and you'll have a choice of the Love and Joy Pattern

 
Or the Crazy Quilt

Or you can create your favorite word or just make 

Hope to see you in Minnesota this June, here's the registration information

And ps. if you are interested in purchasing some of my quilt patterns, my Etsy store is now open.

Scrappy Color Play 9" x 11"

Have Quilts, Will Travel

Here's my recent great find.  A folky, funky and fun four block eagle wreath with tulips quilt from Pennsylvania.  Circa 1865.

 

And here's a close-up.  Don't they just make you smile!  Wouldn't you love to see it in the cloth and study it up close -- see below for information on my lectures and classes.  This quilt and lots of other wonders could soon becoming to a quilt guild, show or shop near YOU!

 

And to make things even more fun, there is a twin to my quilt in the International Quilt Study Center Museum in Nebraska.

I love to share my antique quilts and reproductions through quilt trunkshows/lectures/bed-turnings and classes.  I also have quilts available for exhibits. And in addition to my reproduction quilts, I also teach other quilt classes.

  I have added lots of informational pages on my professional presentations  -- see the tab/page names at the top of the blog (under the blog title and before this post). 
There you'll find photos and descriptions for the following:
 antique quilt lectures/trunkshows
antique quilt classes
other quilt classes

    You'll also find information about
AQS Certified -Quilt appraisals
my calendar and
my professional qualifications

I would love to come to your quilt guild meeting or quilt show or your shop.

Creating

This spring's project: a quilt for the Arts and Old Lace Challenge

"Literally Challenging"  Another one of my 'wordy' quilts.

18" x 18", machine foundation pieced (my own patterns)

Arts and Old Lace Challenge

I used lots of decorative stitches on my machine to add decoration and quilting at the same time.  The suiting fabrics esp. had such a crazy quilt feel that at my Mom's suggestion I added crazy quilt fans to the corners. 

An original design.  Obviously inspired by the challenge title.  Part of my series of "word play" quilts -- quilts that have something to say.  The name also notes the very challenging nature of the fabrics - much more difficult to sew than my beloved cotton.s

I used fabric ONLY from the 2 salesman sample books:  one with formal Italian suitings, the other with light summery woven (more than 105 different fabrics were used in the 18 inch quilt).  I used the challenge packet lace for the "&" but added 2 vintage laces from my Mom's stash.  She also found the woven coat binding - the perfect finishing touch.

   

Here's the challenge packet:

And here's a detail of the quilting:

The exhibit opened on July 21st at Artistic Artifacts, Alexandria, Virginia and the 87 quilts from 80 artists will be on display there until the end of September.  The exhibit will then travel to various locations.
Contact Cyndi Souder for information on how to get the quilts shown at your quilt show, museum, art gallery, etc.



Bloggers Quilt Fest -- Cheddar Stars over Moab

Cheddar Stars Over Moab, 2010
20" x 24"

This antique reproduction is one of my all time favorite quilts, I love the little 3 inch stars and the wonderful texture of the quilting.  I hand quilted the heck out of it!  Click on the photo to see a close up of the quilting.  Cheddar refers to the strong orange fabric which looks like cheddar cheese.
It was made for the 2010 American Quilt Study Group (AQSG) antique quilt study of 19th century star quilts.  The original antique quilt had to be star quilt made between 1800 and 1899. One of 10 quilts patterned and highlighted in the new Kansas City Star Book which shows the 39 antique quilts and their reproductions that were part of the quilt study.
If you click on the above link, you'll see my sister Donna's pink and cheddar star, which is also one of the patterns, quite an honor -- only 10 were patterned and 2 were ours.  Needless to say this is our favorite quilting book ever!!!!

New Stars Book available NOW

 Here's the 1890 antique quilt from my collection which was my inspiration- and my matching process.  See I'm working hard to find the perfect reproduction fabrics to exactly reproduce the original.  And if you need another cheddar fix, click here to see my first reproduction of my antique cheddar star but done in modern fabrics for the 2010 Riley Blake challenge.  I posted it for last year's spring Bloggers Quilt Fest and it includes a full shot of the antique quilt. 


Antique 1890 Cheddar Star with reproduction blocks and fabrics

 Click here to see my 2nd Bloggers Festival entry, my antique 1850 Rose of Sharon Applique - Quilted Joy quilt.
  Now back to visiting all the other wonderful quilts in Amy's Bloggers Quilt Festival (click on words not button).  Thanks AMY!

Awesome Alliance Quilt - 1930's Scrappy Mix and Match

Two of a Kind, 16 x 16", Donna Starley 2010

This is my sister Donna's paper pieced quilt made for the 2010 'New From Old' Alliance for American Quilts Challenge. She used her original scrappy mix and match sampler pattern She used 1930's reproduction fabrics to create eight different foundation pieced 2 1/2" traditional blocks. Each block was used twice in the quilt but looks different based upon color placement within the block. She's mixed up all the blocks--can you identify all the matches? Donated to the Alliance fundraising and auctioned on eBay last month (luckily we were able to buy it back).

This is the same pattern that I used in my black, white and pink puzzle quilt, see previous entry. It is amazing to see how different the two quilts turned out, it is a very cool pattern.

Speaking of the Alliance Challenge, the 2011 contest was just announced, click on the logo to see the details, and please note the deadline is much earlier this time, March 7, 2011. Hope you will consider joining the Alliance and also donating a 16 x 16" quilt for the challenge.

B&W&Pink Mini Blog Fest - Fall 2010

Scrappy Color Play 8.5" x 11"

This is one of my all time favorite quilts, made for the Journal Quilt Project and shown at the International Quilt Festival in Houston. I love the graphic nature of the pink, fuchsia and black and white. It was a lot of fun to do such small piecing (the blocks are are about 2.75"-yes less than 3"). The paper pieced pattern was designed by my sister Donna and this is a sample for her class. It is a mix and match sampler: there are 6 pairs of blocks with the same pieces but each twin looks different based on color placement. See if you can find the match for each block.
There is a pattern available.

Don't forget to visit my other favorite -- part of my antique quilt collection (a cool blue and white schoolhouse quilt).
http://utahquiltappraiser.blogspot.com/2010/10/bloggers-quilt-festival-fall-2010.html

And click on the icon to visit even more of the quilt festival

C is for Crazy Quilt

What I'm working on --a crazy quilt for this year's Alliance for American Quilts challenge. They are currently accepting entries/donations of 'crazy quilts' which will be auctioned this fall on EBay to help with their mission of preserving American Quilts and quilt history. In honor of their 16th year, the quilts are 16 inches square and must be postmarked by June 1, 2009. If you are a quick worker, there is still time to join in, and anyone can buy a quilt on EBay to help support the Alliance. I'll post when it is time to vote for your favorite and again when it is time to starting bidding.

I'm taking the theme literally and spelling it out, as you can see in the sneak peek block. Drafting paper pieced letters in a log cabin, cq format with strong graphic appeal of black and white and hot pink/fuchsia. What a lot of fun for a great cause.
----
Update on the last Fiberart For A Cause (FFAC), my donated raven postcard raised $50.00 for the American Cancer Society, thank you Donna. Virginia Spiegel with a lot of help from her friends has now raised almost $200,000.00 for ACS. What an amazing woman.