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!

TBT: More Minis

Welcome to another installment of "my tiny career." My quilts to share today are my own creations, mostly made from antique fabrics. If you have been following this documentation of my pre-blogger life, you'll know that most of my career was spent hand quilting antique tops or tops made from antique fabrics. Then there was that period of time when I tried selling my own little quilts at craft shows (Ugh!) or on consignment. But there's one more little piece of the story that I have mentioned before. In the late 1980s I met a woman (let's call her ML--those are her initials) who had a booth with antiques and quilts/fabrics at a show at a nearby mall. After a conversation about quilting and my experience, she told me she would buy any quilts I could make for her. She also brought me a box of antique fabrics to use in some of them. At that time, I was fascinated by the techniques I had learned from Becky Schaefer while working for her and reading her book Working In Miniature, so with my new-found confidence in my own quilt-making, I focused on tiny quilts.

I pieced all of these quilts on my Singer Featherweight. The batting was likely light weight polyester from Mountain Mist. All of the quilts were hand quilted, mostly with off-white thread. The backings were off-white--possibly a good quality muslin, but I think maybe a smoother cotton. I don't recall how ML and I arrived at prices for these quilts. I did keep track of the amount of thread I used for quilting because that was the way I had always been paid before, but we probably negotiated a flat-rate price. For that reason, I won't record the thread used here as I did for previously documented quilts. 

First up are two log cabin rose quilts I made in February 1988. I'm uncertain of the source of inspiration. Both quilts are 13 inches square. 

The quilt on the left is from antique fabric from the 1930s. I made the one on the right from 1980s fabric. You can see that the colors in the '30s fabric are softer and clearer. Fabrics in the '80s had a yellowish or grayish cast. 

Quilts are reversed in this photo of the backs. I quilted minimally in the logs, did stylized flowers in the large outer triangles, and a little vine in the borders. 

Next, two fan quilts, February 1988. These are 12 1/4 by 14 1/8 inches. 

Again the one on the left is from 1930s fabric and the one on the right from 1980s fabric. Quilting echoed the fans, with scallops in the borders. It was interesting to me to pick fabrics with small enough prints to be interesting but not overly large in scale. 

Quilts in reverse order here again.

I have a little notebook with my drafts of some of these quilts. Most of the notes are indecipherable (my notes still look that way), but here is the page for these quilts. The plastic templates I made for the fan pieces are taped near the bottom. 

These next Ohio Star quilts are also from February 1988. (It must have been a cold winter! I got a lot of quilting done.)They are based on Becky's drafts. Again, 1930s fabric on left and 1980's on right. They are 12 1/4 by 17 inches. 

I quilted leaves with circles in the plain squares and a simple cable in the borders. 

This churn dash is also based on drafting by Becky. Yup another one from February 1988, and from 1930s fabrics. It's 11 3/4 by 14 1/4 inches. (Must have been breezy.)

Minimal quilting around the dashes, and my simple vine in the border. 

Bad photo!

An old fabric panel (I don't know the vintage) was in the inspiration for the colors of the churn dash blocks and the borders in this quilt from January 1989.

Another off-kilter photo--pre-digital.

The solid fabrics were a mix of older and newer fabrics. The quilt is 16 1/2 inches square. 

I quilted around features in the scene, outlined the dashes, and did a sort of half feather in the border. Quilting the borders were my favorite parts of these quilts. 

I drafted the pattern for the black and yellow Bow Ties (fabric from the 1930s-'40s. It's 13 1/2 by 12 1/4 inches. I quilted around the ties and then did trailing flowers in the border. The quilt on the right is a pastel Lone Star, made from a pattern and techniques from Becky's book. The fabrics are mostly 1930s with a few '80s thrown in. It's 15 7/8 inches square. I quilted jagged circles in the center (to follow the diamond shapes), feathered circles around the star, and a rope in the border. These were both finished in January 1989.

I have no notes on this next quilt. I do know it's an Irish Chain from Becky's book, and that at least the red fabrics are from ML's box of antique fabric. I'm guessing it's about 14 inches square. It's quilted with hearts and that sort of feather design. I don't have a photo of the back. 

That photo's not real clean, is it? Hmm.

,And these last two are an experiment in making Hired Man's Quilts from a set of suiting samples that I found in the box from ML. I'm not sure if the border fabric was also in there. Anyway, I remember these as exceedingly difficult. I probably should not have used that fabric on the back. I doubt I used any batting. They are straighter than they appear to be--just hanging funny, but you can see how thick they are. 

(The quilts are reversed here.) I remember that I had to use a stab stitch to quilt them because I had trouble rocking my needle through the thick seams. It was an interesting experiment, though. I don't have any notes. I'm guessing the quilts are about 10 by 13 inches. Looks like the label says they were made in June 1990.

I have one more group of mini quilts I made for ML from "modern" (1980s Ha!)  fabric, but I'll save it for next month. 

I hope you've enjoyed my minis. These were made with a lot of strip piecing and short-cut triangle piecing techniques. If I made them today, I'd probably try paper foundation piecing as much of the blocks as possible. They were a neat challenge, though, and it was fun to be able to make whatever I wanted and know I had a buyer for them. 

I'm linking up today with Sandra at mmm! quilts for Throwback Thursday. Make sure you check out her post. (They always contain fabulous stories!) Share some oldies from your pre-blogging days, if you have them, or just enjoy the ones other quilters have to share. 

TBT: Commissioned Quilts

I can't believe it's been nearly a month and a half since I did any quilting. (I did manage to baste two quilts, but didn't even get a photo of that.) I kind of knew that might happen this year, but that's a long time for a quilter!! There have been a lot of family things going on,  and now that we are into December--during which I never do much quilting--I doubt much more will be done, at least for the next couple of weeks. I will content myself with looking back at some quilts from the past. (I haven't been totally idle from sewing. I did sew a Christmas stocking for my newest Grand last week and did some fun hand sewing of ornaments for the Grands' stockings.) 

Anyway, as I've been doing the last few months, I'm sharing another post about my tiny quilting career. For more posts about that (if you wish to review them) just click on "my tiny career" in the label list on the right side bar or at the bottom of this post. Most of these posts cover quilts I hand quilted for Becky Schaefer in the 1980s and 90s. She made the tops from antique fabrics and blocks and shipped them to me for the quilting. I thought I had shared all of them, but just as I was finishing my last TBT post, I came across just a few more. So I'll quickly show them and then get on to the quilts I meant to share for this post. I don't have any details recorded for these last quilts--just loose photos. So without further ado, here they are. Let's start with a pretty one for the holidays--a feathered star. I'm guessing that this one was 20-some inches square based on the size of those clothes pins. I never tired of quilting feathered circles. 

Here's the back--a bit wrinkled, but we jammed these into mailers for the least postage possible, so there you have it.

Next, this little group of Lone Star blocks. I think it's about the same size as the quilt above. So much to love here: the soft colors, the shirting in the background, the diagonal striped inner border. Again, feather circles, but also a feather heart in the center. What fun! 

And the back in all it's wrinkled glory. If I were to quilt these kinds of quilts today, I would definitely make the quilting more consistent in density over the surface. But at that time, it was important to keep costs down--so less quilting--and I avoided doing too much quilting in the fragile old printed fabrics.

I like this brown and cream quilt with just a hint of lavendar--not colors I'd use much today, but they are really striking. I like the pattern, too, and think it could fit well into a modern quilt. This quilt appears to be about the same size as the others.

The quilting does not show up much in these photos on the front or the back, but when I look closely, I see outlining in the white triangles, partial feather circles in the larger ones, and some outlining in the brown areas to create a square with points in the middles of each side. (Not quite sure how to describe that.)

Okay, one more of Becky's quilts. It's similar to others I showed a couple of months ago, but rectangular instead of square. I'm guessing it's about 20 by 24 inches. 

The quilting shows pretty well on the back.

So, as far as I can tell, that is the end of my documentation of the quilts I quilted for Becky. As I've said so many times, I loved this tiny career. But here's an unexpected bonus: my quilting for her led to quilting for others. Some of these projects came through Becky, who gave my name to people who needed to have a quilt finished. But others came through my confidence because of the work I was doing for Becky. I approached a quilt store owner and offered to finish tops for her clients. And word got around in my community, too, which led to commissions from others. So the remainder of this post is a collection of those quilts. I'm not sure "commissions" is the right word, but I'm not sure how else to describe them. 

Let's start with one I'm not crazy about. And truthfully, I never would have worn a vest like this even in the 1980's. But a local quilt store owner needed a sample for a pattern. When she asked me to make it and mentioned some trick for making ocean wave blocks I vaguely nodded as if I knew exactly what she was talking about. Eek. I had never done this before. I think I constructed the block and appliqued it on the background. I'm pretty sure the outer edge was on the bias, which might have been what the quilt shop owner was trying to help me avoid. The most fun was the crosshatch quilting. My eyes were better then, and quilting with black thread on black fabric was still doable. I made most of my own clothing in the 80's, so the vest construction was not a problem for me. I made this vest in November 1985. According to my notes, it took me 14 hours, and I used 31 yards of thread. I have no idea how we negotiated my fee. But I never made another clothing sample again. It was not my thing.

The back:

My next project--for the same quilt shop owner--was much more to my liking. In fact, it was exactly what I wanted to do. A scrap variation of Irish Chain. The top was dated January 1, 1940 and signed by the maker. As so often is the case with old tops, it was rather ripply so somewhat challenging to quilt. We knew this would be the case, but overall, it quilted out pretty well. The quilt is 38 by 55 inches. I quilted it with 82 1/3 yards of thread (paid by the yard). In addition, I was paid for the time it took to baste and mark it (4 hours, according to my records). I quilted stylized flowers in the solid squares, outlined the solid parts and quilted diagonal lines in the prints. I did not have to do the binding. (Yea!)

Here's the back--plain muslin. It looks stained here, but that is just poor quality lighting. At least it shows the quilting.

This next quilt was for a woman that went to my church. I think she had taken a sampler class and then put the top together for a twin bed. It measures 66 by 84. I think we discussed the quilting a bit, but she pretty much let me just do whatever. So I let the blocks tell me what they wanted and then surrounded them with scallops in the border. The quilt was constructed sometime around 1980. I quilted it in September/October 1987. My records indicate that there are 224 yards of quilting. It looks to me like the binding is actually a fold over from the back--pretty wide.

The shadows are terrible in this photo of the back, but it does show the quilting. I haven't looked at it for a long time and am noticing details I had forgotten about. I like those vines in the wide sashes. Do you see those tulips above the scallops? I guess those were a nod to the Dutch heritage of both the maker of the top and myself. Given the puffiness, I'm guessing the batting is polyester.

Here's another Irish Chain that I believe came in a roundabout way through Becky but was actually made by a woman who lived not far from me. The top was made by K in 1987, I quilted it in the summer of 1988. It is 74 by 92 inches. I used 314 1/3 yards of thread. the quilting is pretty straight-forward, quilted in a similar way to the Irish Chain quilt above, but with a cable design in the border. I think the binding was a fold over. I wonder if that was common back then. How about those little quilt holder helpers showing on the edge? Such cuties. (Well, I know you can't see much of them. I cropped them, but believe me, they are cute!)

 Here's the back--same green print as on the front.

 And a close-up.

This next quilt was a commission from a quilt shop owner in San Anselmo California--a referral arranged by Becky. I think it's my favorite of this batch--an antique Nosegay top, 61 1/2 by 82 inches. I finished it in March 1989 with 318 1/2 yards of thread. I also did the binding. Aren't those fabrics delicious? Even with the sketchy lighting.

Here's the back. I love how the quilting makes its own pattern

And a close up:

How about one more?

Okay, one more quilt--also a commission from the quilt store owner in San Anselmo. The top was made by a client in 1989. I quilted it in May of that year. It is 39 inches square. I used 202 yards of thread. I also bound it. I don't remember if it was marked for me, if I was given the stencils for the quilt motifs, or if I used my own.

Here's the back:

Oh, and then I have to show this last item even though it's not a quilt and I can't remember how it came to me. But it was a commission and a fun little diversion from quilting. Counted cross stitch! Before quilting, I had a long love affair with embroidery and cross stitch. So I just had to share this, because it is somehow related to those days when projects just came along through my tiny career, and I got paid for my pastime.

As much as I loved working on Becky's tiny quilts, I found these much, much larger quilts to be very satisfying. They gave me an opportunity to quilt more complex designs. I used a 15-inch lap hoop (I still use the same one) for quilting. At one point I bought a set of used rails because I thought I might like quilting on a larger frame, but I could not get used to it. I was so used to quilting toward myself and could not get the hang of going in other directions or twisting myself around on the large frame. (Also, it took up too much room that I really did not have in my living room.) It was a little scary at first to take someone else's lovingly done work and add my quilting to it. What if I messed it up?! But the joy of quilting soon took over. And I was very fortunate to get to work on such well-made tops, so they all (except that one antique quilt) came out flat and square.

I thought my TBT posts would be finished by the end of this year, but it looks like I have enough quilts left for a couple more in the new year. I hope you'll stick with me as I try to get these all documented. In the meantime, I need to get going on some new work. 

I'm linking up today with Andrée of Quilting and Learning, What a Combo for Throwback Thursday. She is subbing in for Sandra of mmm! quilts while Sandra takes a little break. Thanks, Andrée! And Sandra, I hope you are relaxing.

I wish you all a beautiful holiday season. I hope you get to do a little quilting or sewing at odd moments when you aren't celebrating or doing other things. My next project is a little soft book for a certain little grandbaby, and then I need to get going on my Rainbow Scrap Challenge quilt finishes so that I can think about what to do for RSC in 2019!