Sunrise Quilt Studio

We took last Saturday off from working around the house to visit an antique mall that we hadn't been to before. I came home with this quilt top! Dating it isn't straight forward, but it does have a lot of 1930's fabrics in it, and possibly some 1920's. The solid blue triangles I am not able to date. The quilt is hand pieced and doesn't use a foundation fabric. Luckily for me it is fairly square. I currently have this top on my quilting machine waiting to be quilted. Hopefully I will get to it later next week when I'm over the worst of this cold. I posted a You Tube video of some designs I tried out using a piece of tablecloth plastic as an overlay on the top and a dry erase marker. You can view the video below.

This 1930's Dresden Plate quilt is a re-work. I purchased the quilt at an antique shop a year or so ago. It was tied in the center of the plates with crochet cotton, and machine stitched in the ditch around the blocks. The binding was frayed and the backing was full of holes. So I took it apart, gave it a new backing and quilted it using an 80/20 batting. The plates are quite faded, and it was obviously used. As I worked with this quilt I realized that the sashing was not 100% cotton fabric - it is a poly-cotton blend. It is possible that this isn't the first time this quilt has been reworked. Perhaps the blocks were sewn into a different setting and someone took it apart and added the sashing. Or perhaps the blocks were stored away for years and taken out and set in with the poly-cotton sashing back in the 60's or 70's or 80's. It would be interesting to know the true story of this quilt. The quilting I did leans towards traditional quilting with ...

I've posted a short video on my You Tube channel showing some interesting characteristics of a vintage LeMoyne Star quilt that I am currently working on.

Blue Tigers 2 is a replication of "Blue Tigers"(below) that I completed a few years ago. I had sold Blue Tigers and my daughters were not happy that I had sold a quilt of their cat, so I promised to replicate it. Unfortunately it took me a couple of years to get it completed. It isn't an exact replication - there are several difference. The fabrics are different for one. The blues are more turquoise and all the other fabrics are different except for the background. I had a leftover piece large enough to used for the quilt, I didn't add a border, and instead of hand-beading the quilt I used hot-fix crystals. The border is also a solid black fabric instead of a purple batik. The quilting is also different, especially the background and the leaves in the flowers. All in all I am happy with the way both quilts have turned out.

The 1930's Butterfly Quilt is finally complete including the binding. I used a 30's reproduction fabric for the binding and attached it to the front of the quilt using the longarm machine. I have a video on my YouTube channel that shows the process. Click here for the video: Binding . There is also a video on the background quilting on the same page. Hope you enjoy them.

I purchased this quilt top in 2014 at an antique shop in Warrenton, MO. A lot of the embroidery was not completed, so I hand stitched that over a few days time. A few weeks ago, I took it out and looked it over. It had a lot of stains on it and was just dirty overall. So with some advice from the local quilt shop owner I purchased some quilt wash and soaked the top overnight. It took out all the dirt and most of the stains. I dried it in my dryer set to air dry - no heat. My main concern was that the edges of the appliques might ravel with washing, and they did just a little bit, but nothing too seriously. They had been machine stitched down close to the raw edges by the maker, then hand embroidered with a blanket stitch. That helped keep the edges from raveling to the point of no return. The quilting was kept pretty simple. Here is a short video of the quilting in the butterfly appliques.

This 1950 Singer 15-91 is a new addition to my quilting studio. I purchased it at a tag sale from the estate of an elderly lady who used to come into work and help me fold bulletins each week. I've tried it out and it runs well, but it does need some work. The wiring to the motor has lost most of it's insulation and needs to be replaced. I'm in the process of breaking open the motor to get to the wiring but found I don't have the correct size screw driver to move on any further - I'm about half-way done. I also haven't found the correct size wiring to use for the replacement. So currently the motor and balance wheel are in pieces waiting to be reassembled. Luckily everything is in pretty good shape - it just needed some cleaning. The bobbin winder tire is missing, so I need to order a replacement. I can't wait to get it put back together and piece a quilt with it.