TBT: More Tiny Quilts

One last post about my tiny quilting career. I know. Finally. Anyway, today's quilts are representative of what I learned by quilting for others over those few years. All of today's quilts are tiny. I drafted most of them myself, but the blocks and techniques are either based on or influenced by Becky Schaefer's in Working in Miniature. I sold most of these to a client, ML, who would buy whatever I thought of to make. In last month's TBT post, I shared mostly quilts made from antique fabrics, but today's are made from fabrics that were currently available when I made them. I used combinations of strip piecing, tiny homemade plastic templates and short-cut techniques (such as making a zillion half-square triangles at a time) using laminated graph paper guides to mark grids on the fabric. I actually have a lot of notes and the templates saved from these--I was a bit more organized in my planning back then. I suspect that I thought I'd make multiples even though I rarely did. 

As I noted last month, I pieced the quilts on my Singer Featherweight, using 1/8 inch seam allowance (the width of the right side of my pressure foot). I used a very light weight polyester batting, and hand quilted most of them with off-white thread. ML and I negotiated a flat rate for these quilts. As usual, these are scanned pre-digital photos, so you may need to use your imagination for some of the details. 

This Variable Stars quilt in blue and white is about 12 by 17 inches. I used my go-to feathered circles in the plain squares and a simple leafy vine in the border. It's difficult to see here, but the stars are made of several tone-on-tone blue prints. I made it in July 1987.

A quick look at the back--

This next one's a bit different because it's a "big" block--Young Man's Fancy or Goose in the Pond bordered by checkerboard strips. The quilt is 10 1/4 by 14 inches. The "big" block is 4 1/2 inches square. This is a typical "country" color scheme for the '80s--hunter green and rust. I made this in July 1987.

There's enough simple quilting to hold it together with squares, diagonals and straight lines, and a simple ribbon around the border.

And another green/rust combination, a churn dash, 12 inches square. This one is from a pattern by Becky and has the feathered stars for quilting and minimal outlining. I finished this in February 1988. 

 Hard to see, I know.

I had also made this quilt in blue and rust (11 1/2 inches square) in February 1987. I did not sell this one--it was a gift for my sister-in-law along with a schoolhouse quilt in the same colors. I don't think I've shown it before, so I'm showing it here, too. 

Same quilting--maybe shows up better here than in the above quilt. 

I tried some Amish style designs in these two quilts in the spring of 1988. The Amish Bars quilt is 7 1/2 by 9 inches and the Diamonds quilt is about 7 1/2 inches square. I had a dream of making a whole series of Amish style minis based on actual Amish quilts and had even bought a supply of fabric from Yoder's Department store in Shipshewana, Indiana, (known for it's huge inventory of solid color fabric), but I never did make them. I still have some of the fabric. I quilted these with black thread, using grids, a sort of feathered rope in the borders, and a feathered circle in the diamond.

There is no chance of my quilting with black thread on dark fabrics these days--just can't see it anymore.

I've shown schoolhouses before, but not this particular one--made again in country colors in the spring of 1988. This one is 9 by 11 5/8 inches. But what I really want to show in this photo is the log cabin quilt in a barn raising layout (also from the spring of 1988). It's 9 1/2 by 11 7/8 inches. I quilted through the middle of each dark and light round and then a feather border.

The log cabin is on the left in this photo of the backs.

This next photo shows two quilts, but there were actually three. I made two of the Two-Story Houses quilts--one to sell and one as a gift for a cousin of my husband. All of these were also made in the spring of 1988. The house quilts are 9 by 13 1/2 inches. Although similar to many house blocks in quilts, I drafted them independently. The Rail Fence is 11 7/8 by 13 3/8 inches. 

Some of the quilting details are better seen on the backs. I did grids in the backgrounds of the houses and a simple ribbon in the border. I outlined some of the rails of the fence and then made a leafy vine in the border.

One more set of quilts. The first is a scrappy nine-patch, 12 by 17 inches. The quilting is a grid in the plain squares, with a scallop in the border. I called the other one Lavender Paths. It's 12 1/8 by 15 1/4 inches. I quilted it with leafy vines and diagonal lines. They were both made in--wait for it--the spring of 1988. 

All of the quilts that I made in the spring of 1988 were part of a little art display at my parents' church (probably the reason I did not identify the exact dates they were made). My mom really liked these quilts and arranged for the display, which was part of a rotating art showcase at the church. My one and only show. Kind of neat. After the show they all went to ML, my quilt client. 

And that is the end of the story of my tiny quilt career. Eventually, after my kids were in school full time, I returned to my career in the schools and quit making quilts for pay. At least, I tried to formally quit making quilts for ML. She wouldn't listen to me and said that someday I'd make more and that she would buy them. But I never did, and over time, we lost touch. Until my retirement, my quilting was limited to vacation periods, and I focused on gifts for family. I have enough of those to show one more TBT post before I run out of material for posts about my pre-blogging quilts. Stay tuned. 

I'm linking up today with Sandra at mmm! quilts for Throwback Thursday. Run over there and see what she's remembering from her pre-blogging days (as always a good story, and today's photos are gorgeous) and see who else has something to share. 

Keep quilting, and keep sharing your quilts!