When I came back into the room, the light was just right for me to get
this photo. I enjoy this room so much. My DH made the furniture by
recycling old store fixtures and I did all the painting - walls, cabinets,
the works. So this was taken from just inside the door.
The room was a bedroom, so there is a closet (hidden) to the right.
I use the closet doors for my design wall. The next picture was taken
after stepping into the room and swinging around to the left.
It doesn't always look so tidy, but I had just put the work of the
day on the design wall before my break.
I've been in the process for about a month now, trying to complete
an ambitious strippy style quilt with 1930's reproductions.
I started with strips of squares but that was a little plain so
I decided to make them tip up.
I wanted to have flowers on panels between the pieced panels.
I am not good at applique but keep on trying anyway. These
flowers were traced to a fusible web (yikes, not exactly my normal
traditional approach) fused, cut out and laid out on the stems.
The leaves were really fun to do, for some reason. It was surprising
how long it took to get one flower panel laid out. The rest of the
stitching in place remains to be done.
The goal is to have four pieced panels separated by three flower panels, and finished with a sawtooth scrappy border.
I find beauty in the print designs and colors of antique cotton calicoes. I don’t mean those ditzy prints from the 1970’s Prairie Look – remember Gunne Sax, peasant skirts, etc? I mean those interesting, dynamic designs and soft natural colors from the hoop skirt era,
which are my first love. I refer to them as the colors of the Civil War, using the time span of 1830-1880.
More recently I have been able to dabble in the 1930's repros. They
are charming and delightful - a real perky look that seems to be just
what's needed during these trying economic times.
OK, that said, I love to sew and I love to look at books full of great photos of antique quilts. And then I love to try to re-create those quilts, from the 1830's to the 1930's.
Your sewing room is much too neat and tidy!! The 30's prints are so cheery. How will you applique the flowers? Buttonhole, machine, or needle turn? I've got all my little basket handles done. You definitely need to use bias for that little bitty arc. I tried straight grain and it just doesn't do it.
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