Sunday, April 06, 2014

I was up bright and early this morning, ready to start sewing the blocks together.  It all went without a hitch, but took several hours as I was being very careful.  It would be catastrophic to scorch a block, or make a slip with the rotary  cutter at this late stage.

But my diligence paid off, and the blocks are as square and flat as I could make them.
I love these sunflowers, they are so pretty, and there are many, many antique quilts using these blocks in amazing settings.  Once I get this set of pink and brown ones done I'll start another set.  I used the Marti Michell templates,
and it was very easy to churn out the rings.  Adding the background fabrics is what slowed me down on these.
I see I have still more sets of pieces to sew together...

One of my most favourite ever quilt books is A People and Their Quilts by John Rice Irwin.  If I could only ever have one quilt book, this would be it.  The quilts are beautiful, the stories are wonderful history, and the photos excellent.  No patterns, but I don't need patterns.
 I love this glimpse of a sunflower quilt, held by Mildred Locke. I must track down similar fabrics to make my own version; I can make the sunflower rings while I hunt around to find setting and border fabrics.

I knew I would love A People And Their Quilts when I read these words on the first page;
"I'd druther quilt than to eat on the hungriest day that ever I seen".

At the time I bought this book, very few people I knew quilted, and they regarded it as an amusing hobby.  I thought it was a way of life.  I felt an instant connection to Ethel Hall when I read her words, and I knew Mereth and I weren't alone in loving quilting so much.  The whole book is an affirmation that quilting is so much more than just cutting up fabric and sewing it back together.

4 comments:

Anonymous,  10:58 AM  

I have this book too! I got it years ago and have read it cover to cover more than once. I was actually able to visit the Museum of Appalachia once and see a few of these quilts in person. Now I think I need to get it out and read it again :).

Carla 3:59 PM  

Oh my goodness...I bought this book at our Quilt Show a couple years ago for $1. Haven't had a moment of time to sit and read it. Now it will go on my bedside table for reading before I go to sleep.... Thank you for cluing me in to what a treasure I have.

Karen 10:39 PM  

I like how you placed the blocks. Like style blocks featured in a similar location. I don't know that how I worded that makes sense but the block locations make sense to an assortment of blocks with some that are alike.

Britt 10:58 AM  

This is such a lovely quilt, the blocks are wonderful together. I'm looking forward to seeing it's progress.

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