Make it work
Sometimes I go through periods when I buy fabric. Sometimes it is a lot of fabric. I blame the designers. They make pretty fabric. And then those fabrics go out of print. So it makes me worry. What if…I come up with an idea for the world’s most amazing pattern? Don’t I need to have all of the fabrics just to make sure I have that exact one that will make my pattern into the world’s most amazing quilt? So, I have to buy those wonderful fabrics until…shopping guilt. Well, maybe it’s not so much shopping guilt as wondering where the heck all that fabric came from that’s overflowing every surface in my sewing “studio” and I just bought two new plastic tubs and they’re full and…geez, where am I going to put all this stuff? (An aside…are you noticing how close the words “guilt” and “quilt” are? Those two words do not belong together.)
Anyway…when it all gets a little too frantic, I look to the past for a reality check. Above is an old top I bought that just makes me smile. This is one quilter who did not take it all too seriously and just “made it work.” Of course, she never finished the top into a quilt, but that’s a guilt trip for another post.
I have to say, these are not the prettiest fabrics I’ve ever seen. But, I love the way the quilter used scraps and created “make do” blocks.
Do you love poison green (I do)? Well, throw it in there with that rust paisley. Was this supposed to be a brown quilt? It is! Except maybe for that poison green corner. Oops! Make the brown alternate squares all the same to tone it down. Or not. Just keep those setting square fabrics out of the 9-patches. Or not.
Love that pink and brown so throw some of that in.
Of course, the alternate squares are all chocolate brown. Like these…chocolate brown and white. Just lightening things up, right?
Did I say the alternate squares were brown? Well, maybe no one will notice a little electric blue if I put those plaid pieces on the bias. Flashy! Whoops, the stripes didn’t exactly line up either. Was this deliberate? Do you think she cared?
I would love to know what went on in this quilter’s mind when hand piecing this top. Where did all the pieces come from? Was the cheddar the “hot” color that it is now? Did she laugh at the riot of patterns and fabrics in this quilt? I am glad I have it to enjoy now.
Very nice. Love all the quirky colors and choices.
That's such a neat quilt –proves that you really don't need enough of the perfect fabrics to make somethign great!
I LOVE those blocks! My thought was that maybe they were purple turned brown? The cheddar is shocking and I would never be brave enough to do that, tho I love cheddar now days.
Hi –
it's funny, I don't like the individual blocks, but I love the quilt in it's entirety.
there's a word for that, but I can't think of at the moment. synergy? something like that.
anyway, i love the scrappiness and the cheddar of course!
You have a one-of-a-kind quilt that I love. Wouldn't it be great to meet the lady who made this and pick her brain a little? We can guess why she did what she did, but the "why" doesn't matter. What's important is that you have it and you're enjoying it. (and so are we)
Love your quilt top – love the cheddar.
Would be fabulous smaller – say crib quilt size!
🙂
Jo in Nebraska
The cheddar is wonderful!
anatomy of a quilt… 😉
I love old tops that no one else likes…
this is a beauty though… anything with that cheddar color floats my boat… one of these days I'll get back to my cheddar drunkards path…perhaps you've just inspired me…Love that colors!!
Your blog is wonderful ! I love the old quilts
who I seen . Thanks and friendship . mamifleur
You have to just LOVE this quilt top – it's fabulous! Do you plan to quilt it – enquiring minds need to know!
Your work is most beautiful, my dear. Thank you for sharing. Happy Quilting!
This is such a great top! She really scraped the bottom of the scrap bag, didn't she? Love it!
OMG! I lvoe it and all its quirkiness!!! It appears that the qwuilter was trying her hand at piecing a top!!! She probably got laughed out of the church group!!
Thanks for sharing this fun quilt!!!
Maybe there was a lot of thinking or maybe she just grabbed what she had and used it? Either way the result is really nice. Thanks for posting the part about fabric. I needed to read that I was getting a little obsessive.
Reminds me of the double nine-patch quilt in this post–same concept of making do. I love the cheddar sashing in yours of course; as Kathie says, it's a neutral. http://notesfromthequiltlab.blogspot.com/2010/03/little-spring-around-house.html
Now I think that that Poison Green had a special meaning to our Quilter and she just had to use it. I love the way that some of the squares are pieced to make the piece big enough. This quilt has so much charm
Thankyou for sharing Taryn
BTW I think that you need to rub guilt out of your mind 😉
Cheers
Lynne
What a wonderful quilt Taryn , I could spend hours just looking at all the wonderful fabric she used. I like the fact that she just threw in that poison green, I think that is something I would do.
Thanks for sharing
looks like she just made nine patches, then decided to make a double nine patch block. Using what she had in her scrap bag maybe?
Love that she added the poison green in there, I love it! when you look at the quilt though its that blue that stands up I had to LOOK for the green! My thought is she needed the 12th block and well ran out of browns so used the blue 🙂
hows that for reasoning!!!! great quilt ! and the cheddar sashing just makes the quilt in mho!
Ah yes lucky you to own this beauty. what size are the nine patch blocks?
Kathie
It's beautiful Taryn.
This is a great example of a quilter doing her own thing…what ever made her happy and it worked..
Julia ♥