Throwback Thursday: Oh, My Stars!

I can't believe it's time for TBT again. (I probably say that every month.) As you might recall, this year I'm doing a series of Throwback Thursday posts about quilts that I worked on during the 1980's and early 90's when I had a tiny quilting career. You can read more about that career in any of my posts labeled "my tiny career."  In honor of my country's birthday this week, I'm sharing star quilts. The tops were all constructed by Becky Schaefer from antique fabrics or blocks. You can read more details about her work in my previous posts. I did all of the quilting by hand with off-white cotton thread. Usually I'll show the fronts and backs. The backs show some of the quilting better or show fun samples of antique prints. For documentation, I'm recording any information I have available about sizes, quilting dates, and amount of thread used (because that determined my pay, except for base pay on the smallest ones). 

So let's get started. Lots of photos here. Please excuse the quality of some--they are all scanned from pre-digital photos. 

First up, some variable stars. I think I showed slightly bigger versions of these earlier.  These minis are maybe 9 by 11 inches or so. I forgot to record the size when I quilted them. They make me wonder why I've never tried pink and brown in a quilt. They are quilted about the same, but for some reason I used 10 yards of thread on one and 7 on the other. Perhaps I found a more efficient way of moving from one area to another on the second one. Either way, the pay was the same on these smallest quilts because there was a base rate for them. I finished the quilting in July 1986.

Here's a different colorway. I like the alternation of the contrasting stars and background and no sashing. This one is 9 by 10 7/8 inches. It has very little quilting--just little hearts in the centers, and only 1 2/3 yards of thread. Notice that border with its loose threads. It looks like the fabric was removed from another quilt top or project. I love how the inner border was fussy cut from a striped fabric. I finished the quilting in August 1989.

Here's a quilt with no documentation, which means that I quilted it near the end of my tiny career. I still had the gumption to photograph some quilts but not to file the photos away with details. The size is close to the others in this batch. Isn't that blue border luscious? It looks like I just outlined in the background in this one. 

How about some Ohio Star quilts? This sweet one is set on point. It's 10 by 13 1/4 inches and quilted with tiny feather circles. 4 1/3 yards of thread. Finished in July 1989.

And a much bigger Ohio Star. It measures 56 by 70 inches. It used up 200 1/2 yards of
thread! There is some grid work, a sort of fleur-de-lis in the triangles and rope in the border. More fabric cutting wonder in this quilt in the fussy sashing and inner border.

Here's a close up in a photo that almost looks like an accident. I didn't include a photo of the back because it was really indistinct. I finished the quilting in January 1988.

Here's one more Ohio Star. I have no information at all. Can't even see the quilting (I'm guessing outlining and feathered circles) and there is no photo of the back. It's probably one of my last ones. Sheesh. What a way to end a career. I'm thinking about 20 inches square. 

Let's not dwell on that. Moving on...

I finished quilting the next couple of blocks in the summer of 1988. Each was approximately 18 inches square. I loved doing the feather circles on these very old blocks. The rest of the quilting was a simple outline, carefully done on such fragile fabrics. Each block took 28 yards of thread. 

A long time later, Becky sent me this quilt, which must have come from the same batch of blocks. I have no certain information about it. I'm thinking it must have been about 64-66 inches square. I wish I had close-ups of the quilting. I think it is grid work and an abstract floral. The backing was especially fragile. Based on old invoices, I'm thinking that this quilt used 208 yards of thread and was finished in November 1990.

Ooh, there were even some tiny Lone Star quilts. This first one is 11 inches square including the border. Amazing! Quilting was minimal--parallel lines in the background. 4 yards of thread. Finished in April 1989.

This one is slightly bigger at 11 7/8 inches square. I'm not sure if that's grid work in the background or vertical lines. 4 yards of thread. Finished in May 1989. Old fabrics, but very 80's colors!

The original blocks of this quilt were T's that Becky reworked by flipping the outer corner blocks to make stars. I like the calming browns and homespun fabrics.. It is 33 1/2 by 26 1/2 inches. The quilting is fairly simple, with squares on point in the centers of the stars and some outlining and parallel lines on the diagonal in the background. It took 48 1/3 yards of thread. I finished the quilting in the summer of 1988. 

Yup, there are still a few more...Here are some Lemoyne stars. I don't have the details on this one. It couldn't have been more than 15 by 20-some inches.Quilting was outlining and a rope in the border, likely finished in 1991. 

And a tiny one. 10 by 12 inches, maybe? There's that pretty blue fabric again. By this time I was cranking out minis by the batch. I don't have photos of a lot of them, likely because they were all so similar. I think Becky and I were both speeding toward the end of a era. She had labeled the last batches with some sort of identification code, which is the tag you see hanging there. Pretty sure this was also 1991.

Simple outline quilting.

One more small quilt--a star sampler. I think it's the only photo I have of this type. I do know that I finished this one in July 1991. It's probably about 11 to 12 inches square. I don't have a back photo to show the quilting--it was simple outline in the background patches. 

I wasn't sure if this last quilt should go with star quilts or not, but Becky referred to it as Disappearing Stars, and really, it's my favorite of the whole batch, so here it is. I sometimes catch a glimpse of the stars, but it's really hard for me to hold onto them. Hmm...I guess that's why it's called Disappearing Stars. It's 38 by 48 inches. I absolutely love the colors and the make-do piecing of this quilt and the shirtings used in the background. The quilting includes some outlining, stylized flowers and leaves in the centers of the blocks, and a cable in the border. 117 yards of thread. Finished in the spring of 1986.

Well that was a lot to include, but I'm trying to divide these up by theme so that I can get most of them documented this year. I hope you enjoyed them. I think they have a lot of potential to inspire modern quilts. I'm linking up with Sandra at mmm! quilts for Throwback Thursday and am forever grateful to her for hosting this party for the oldies before bloggies quilts. 

One more thing. Thank you to Kaja (for the link to Fun with Barb--thanks to Barb, too!),  Louise, and Rebecca Grace for all the help getting me back on track with comment emails on my blog. Blogging will be fun again, and now I'll have time to look at everyone else's blogs, and comment on them, too.  Yippee!!

If you are in the US, I hope you had a fun birthday celebration!