Tuesday, May 6, 2014

Vintage Blocks Jackpot

Vintage Quilt Blocks 4
I feel like I hit the vintage quilt block jackpot with these blocks! I went to a "digger style" estate sale a month or so ago and found 12 of these 17" blocks. This sale was advertised as a "digger" as it was necessary to get down on your knees and dig through tubs and boxes at your own risk. I wish I'd had some gloves, but being without didn't seem to stop me from diving in.

I think they are a version of the Star of Bethlehem block. The prints themselves are not pieced; that's all Y-seams!

Vintage Quilt Blocks 2

Vintage Quilt Blocks 5

Vintage Quilt Blocks 6

They have some water stains on them, but I'm hesitant to wash them for fear of unraveling, distortion, and shrinkage. I guess I could just sew them into a top, quilt and finish it and then wash the whole thing.

Does anyone have any advice? The ivory background is muslin.

Ideas...
*Sash them with muslin or a Kona solid to match one of the solids in the blocks.
* Find enough of a vintage fabric that coordinates and use that for sashing.
* Sew them together as is and add a border with a coordinating solid or vintage print. Maybe a navy polka-dot? They are about 17" and I have 12, so if they finish at 16" (once I square them up), a 3 x 4 layout would make a top 48 x 64" before sashing or borders.

I really want to finish these into a useful quilt. I love the idea of seeing this through for whoever took the time to hand piece all these blocks.

Oh, and I paid $1 each for them. ☺

Handmade Journals

Let's just pretend that I haven't been absent from the blog for eight months.
Just where does the time go?

I've been making handmade journals lately.  I love that it combines two of my favorite things... paper and sewing. The first journal I made after taking Mary Ann Moss' Remains of the Day e-course was for my mother and I gave it to her for her birthday. BTW, Mary Ann's course is fantastic.

The second one I made is mine (below) and I've been using it on occasion to document my days. I uploaded some photos of it to Flickr today,
so I thought I might share them here also.

Closed journal.
ROD Journal #2 (1)

The entire cover.
ROD Journal #2 (17)

ROD Journal #2 (2)
Inside the front cover.

Some pages I've journaled on.
ROD Journal #2 (3)

ROD Journal #2 (4)

ROD Journal #2 (5)

ROD Journal #2 (6)

ROD Journal #2 (7)

ROD Journal #2 (9)

And some of the blank pages in the back. It's not even half full yet.
ROD Journal #2 (13)

ROD Journal #2 (11)

I've probably made a dozen journals so far...
Journal Pages

Collecting vintage papers, books, postcards, and ephemera from estate sales
has become a regular thing for me. I love the hunt!
More journals

The solid red one is a Midori-style leather journal.
I LOVED making it and can't wait to start using it. I bought some beautiful
pieces of leather, so there will be more Midori-style journals in my future.
The open book below I've been using for an inspiration notebook.
Journals

I even sold one in my Etsy shop!  I love the one I sold; I really hope
it's new owner enjoys filling it with her memories and treasures.
handmade smash journal cover

handmade smash journal 4

handmade smash journal 5

So, obviously, I'm hooked. I even dug all my papermaking bins and screens out of the basement so I could make some handmade paper to add to journals. I'm hoping to get some more listed in my Etsy shop soon. There's no way I can use all these myself, but I can't stop making them!

Sorry these photos are so small. I haven't used Flickr much since the new interface was rolled out and I guess I used preview images that were too small. I really don't like the new Flickr format; maybe I'm just resisting change.