Many of you know
the simple pleasure I get from
taking a vintage quilt top or blocks,
dissembling it,
and then hand stitching it back together again.
Some how,
some where, I acquired a set of
22 vintage pink and white striped churn dash blocks.
They have pleasantly sat in my sewing room
for years,
patiently, waiting for my attention.
Finally....
My first thoughts were that the blocks
were in perfect shape.👍
Some of the fabrics are brittle,
but no holes or worn areas.
I would set the blocks together with
a simple sashing. 👍
My original thought had been with
a sweet double pink repro.
I would be able to sew them together quickly
because they were close enough in size. 👎
They looked close, but after careful measuring,
not close enough or straight enough.
I wasn't going to have to take these blocks apart. 👎
Guess what?
I began taking the blocks apart.
****
A churn dash is really a simple nine patch block.
So I left the pieced segments together
and redrew the sewing line
on the 9 individual segments.
You can see the original stitching lines
and now
my new stitching lines.
Just enough to make it all off.
It would be very difficult to resew these on the machine
with the uneven seam allowances.
This is a center section put back together.
Look how uneven it appears on the front,
but on the back the sewing lines line up.
It really didn't take too long
to hand stitch the blocks back together.
20 blocks all the same size!
It was then that I realized
that the original idea of a
sweet double pink repro for the sashing
wouldn't even be close to working.
With only the black and white shirtings
and the pink and white stripes,
my color options seem a bit limited.
I finally settled on this gray print
designed by Jeanne Horton
from her "Farmhouse Living" line.
It went along with the style of the vintage blocks
and was the perfect color to surround
those happy striped blocks .
I had another stripe that fit in
for the corner stones
and a wonderful piece of
Di Ford fabric for the outer border.
I love the idea that the original quilt maker
wanted to make a fun pink and white striped quilt.
Look at the variation of
fabrics she used.
Why were the blocks left undone?
Missed sized blocks?
Sashing choice?
Her attention was diverted?
Reasons then and reasons now.
Whatever the reasons,
the quilt top is finally together.
Aren't those blocks wild?!?
I left the block combos just as they
had originally been placed.
It's a delicious
Christmas candy cane assortment.
Anyone want to take a guess on
dating these fabrics?
The shirtings, I think,
are late 1800's - early 1900's?
Not sure about the stripes.
What do you think?
When winter finally settles in,
I'll hand quilt this lovely.
Until next time-
Kyle
