quilting

Pretty Posies

August 1, 2024

Pretty Posies is my challenge quilt for The Endeavourers. Our theme for this quarter was “vintage”. After pondering several ideas, none of which inspired me, I decided to pull out my stash of vintage fabrics and have some fun.

The first thing that might catch your eye is the odd shape of the quilt. The background fabric is a sleeve from an old and well-loved denim shirt of my husband, and the “youngest” fabric in the quilt top, even though that denim shirt dates back a couple of decades. I left the shape of the sleeve as is because I thought it was unique, and it also reminded me a bit of looking out a window.

The “table” is a scrap of fabric from fabric used in a dress for my mother. It is a little sheer, with nubs of threads in various colors running through it. I do not know what type of fabric it is.

The flower vase is a piece of fabric from my grandmother’s fabric stash. It is cut in a hexie shape, although I do not know who did the cutting. It is a very wonky hexie shape, so I’m sure it was cut from a cardboard template.

The lace was crocheted by my grandmother. I have been waiting to use that lace in one of my quilt projects, and this piece seemed to be just the right one for it.

The flowers were cut from a vintage hankie that belonged to either my grandmother, my great aunts, or my mother. I cut around the flowers and raw edge appliqued them onto the background by machine.

All of the fabrics were sewn on by machine using raw edge applique. The trickiest part was getting the flowers to overlap the lace just right. I did not baste the pieces down, I just pinned them and then stitched them down.


For the quilting, I kept it simple and subtle, using 50 wt Aurifil thread in Dove Grey (#2600). I started by quilting straight lines 2 inches apart, then added a sepentine stitch between the straight lines. The serpentine makes me think of a lacey curtain behind the flowers.

The backing is a simple blue and white fabric I’ve had in my stash for a few years. I bought it to use for a specific quilt, and I can’t remember which quilt it was, so I might as well use it up.

For the binding, I made a bias binding from the other sleeve of the denim shirt, cutting it on a diagonal and piecing it together into the binding strip. It worked great, and the fabric is so soft it was easy to stitch through.

Pretty Posies is a quirkly little piece, but it means a lot to me with all the significance of those vintage fabrics!

What would you do with a “vintage” theme? I’m curious! If you want to see the other challenge quilts, you can go here to see them!

Wendy

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