Update – Honey Bee Variation Quilt – 1948

Honey Bee Variation Quilt

Honey Bee Variation Detail

Honey Bee Variation Border Corner Detail

 

You might remember this quilt, that I posted in 2014. It was made in 1948 by my great grandmother, Rose Brown Tague. The traditional honey bee block, in pink and purple, alternates with snowball blocks with green corners. The original post can be accessed under “Family Antiques” in the right-hand column.

I recently found an old photo, taken of my grandmother, Mary Josephine Hamrick Tague, holding nine-day-old me, her first grandchild. Covering her chair is this new quilt, positively dating it to 1948. That’s my father’s writing; he probably took the photo.

It would be great if there were photos floating around showing some of the family’s other quilts. Wishful thinking. . . .

 

Update 5 – 2017 Tesserae

I’ve paused adding new tile pieces to Tesserae to make some corrections to earlier work. About a dozen tiles that seemed crooked, misplaced, or wrongly colored were pulled and changed.

Adjustments to Tesserae Tiles

This photo shows where several tiles were pulled to be adjusted. From the back, you can see the Peltex interfacing forming the stiff body of each tile. I used the numbered pattern pieces to assure that the tiles went back where they belonged. And yes, there are that many tiles – in fact nearly 350 – in the quilt.

Based on the mosaic “Eden” (c) 2012 Kathy Thaden.

2016 – Secret Stars

Secret Stars youth quilt

This youth-sized quilt was made for my great nephew Nicholas. Here are some details:

All the 2″ squares are shirting plaids or stripes – except three that have stars. Also, all rainbow colors are included, so there are some fun things to search for.

Completed – 2015 Not Much of a Path

Not Much of a Path

This lap quilt is now finished. I used 4″ and 8″ Drunkard’s Path blocks in a sampler layout to show differing ways to use this flexible and easily pieced block. Here are pictures of some details:

“Not Much” detail

The quilting started at the small circle and spiraled out to cover the entire quilt.

Curved Piecing Demo

Samples for RMQG Drunkard’s Path Demo

September 9th, Julia Deal and I teamed up at the Rochester Modern Quilt Guild (RMQG) to demonstrate ways of incorporating curves into quilt designs. Julia showed a method of applique, and I used the classic Drunkard’s Path block to demo machine curved piecing. I used an 8″ block pattern so everyone could see. I also gave out patterns for a 4″ block.

Drunkard’s Path Demo – how pattern pieces fit

That’s Julia to my right, with a table of applique samples.

How to place pins

Drunkard’s Path Demo – We had a full house

Before we began, someone commented that curved piecing was too hard. But I showed them an easy way to sew the curve with just three pins.

Part of Semi-Circles quilt top at RMQG Demo

The demo blocks became the bottom row on the Semi-Circles quilt top. Both 4″ and 8″ blocks are included in the design.

Photos by Marie Soom for the RMQG Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/254795224639735/

Also see my Pinterest board of classic and modern sets for this versatile block: https://www.pinterest.com/fish4739/drunkards-path-blocks-and-sets/

 

Quilt Sandwiches

Quilt Sandwiches: Princess’s Crown, Purple Square, Semi-Circles

This was quilt sandwich day. Daughter Bethany helped me pull together and pin baste batting and backs for three tops: Princess’s Crown (pieced in 2014), Purple Square, and Semi-Circles.
The back of Semi-Circles is solid bright pink, for Princess’s Crown it’s pink and white ferns, and I pieced the back for Purple Square from top fabrics:

Quilt Back for Big Square

Let the quilting begin.

Update 2 – Semi-Circles 2015

After presenting my curved seam demo to the Rochester Modern Quilt Guild, I completed construction of this quilt top. The blocks on the bottom row were used in the demo.

Semi-Circles complete quilt top

I now have three tops ready for quilting, so I’ll be assembling quilt sandwiches, basting, and quilting on my machine for a while. Here are the other tops I’ll be working on:

2015 Purple Square Baby Quilt Top

2014 Princess’s Crown Quilt Top

I’ll post photos as they’re completed.

 

Semi-Circles – 2015

Semi-Circles Lay Out Idea 1

I’ve been busy elsewhere for a while but am now back in the studio. I’m working on a guild presentation about curved piecing and here’s what I may do with my demo samples once they’re all sewn.

Update – Mock Kenzie 2015

I have been working on a few quilts for the Genesee Valley Quilt Club’s 2015 Quiltfest, running June 4-6 at Gordon Fieldhouse on the RIT campus.

Hand quilting on Kaffe Fassett’s Roman Glass in pink

If you’re familiar with the pattern combos on majolica made by McKenzie-Childs in Aurora, NY, then you get the joke behind Mock Kenzie. This started as a table cover for a card table.

Mock Kenzie Table Topper – 40 x 40

But now I’m quilting it, a combination of hand and machine quilting. After circling the large dots on Kaffe’s great fabric, using threads in three different pinks, I gave the thread a tug to form bubbles for some surface texture.

Hand quilting on Kaffe Fassett’s Roman Glass in pink

Finishing off the backing and hanging sleeve will complete this project.

Mock Kenzie Table Topper – 2013

Mock Kenzie Table Topper – 40 x 40

After accumulating materials for several years, I was finally able in 2013 to finish this card table cover that mimics some signature motifs of a locally produced majolica: black and white checks, orange and yellow stripes, a floral on a dark background, plaid, tassels in the corners, green and purple trim, pale green marble, local architecture painted in an oval . . . everything but their thistles.

Mock Kenzie Main Field

Since the pottery company’s lake house views are copyrighted, I used some computer magic to transfer a painting of our own cottage to cloth. It tops a removable hot pad. The pink Kaffe Fassett fabric gives the whole design a fun kick.

Here is the original painting, done by a cousin in a row boat, probably in the 1930s. He omitted many trees to show the cottage.

Mock Kenzie Original Cottage Painting