Antique Quilt Field Trip

Tuesday was a bee group day and we made arrangements to work at the U Of Alberta textile department. Three of us were able to help them work on some antique quilts. A few years ago the department took a very large quilt collection and now they are wanting to display some of them. To display them they are adding a muslin backed Velcro strip to the top back of the quilts. They are all hand sewn to the back of the quilts. We got to handle the quilts with no gloves (washed our hands lots). 

This was quilt #3. I got to work on it. It is a hand pieced log cabin pineapple quilt. It had no batting. It was all hand pieced except the binding ( which I think was added much later to make it looked finished). The last row was a little different also. Like they were running out of the fabric they had in the other rows or was done a few years later. Many of the fabric are men's shirting. Love the Cheddar colour.  

Here is a photo of the back of the log cabin pineapple quilt. You can see the Velcro strip I am added on the bottom of the photo. There were some feed sacks and some very worn out prints used on the back. Some still showed the pencil lines the quilter used. You can see the blocked were pieced together and the seams showing on the back. There were no quilting stitches added, only the piecing was done. I think of this as more of a quilt top, not a finished quilt. Still very old and interesting and shows how it was made. 

Here is my mom working on a flying geese quilt. We just love that bubble gum pink.

Finish Up Friday - Machine Case

My Dear Dad finished my new oak Sewing machine case this week. It is for my featherweight sewing machine. 

I had a case but was in bad shape and the buckles were both broken and you had to hug it to carry it. 

The old case did not have a tray. Dad was able to make a new tray for the case. You can see we added a strip of magnet so the bobbins do not roll around and bounce out. It just all fits so perfectly.

Dad also got brass plates made with my name and phone number. He added a brass plate with Spring Ridge Creations - the name of his wood shop. 

I am using my featherweight this week to sew some purple scraps. I will be making a post on Saturday about all the purple scraps I have used up this week. I have some spool bits ready to sew.

I have added this post to Crazy Mom Quilts Finish It Up Friday

Mr Lex was trying to be a lap dog and stealing kisses this week. He is a little big for a lap.

Vintage Christmas Charm Swap

Here are the latest charms I have made. These are for a swap on Two Peas in a Bucket called Vintage Christmas Charm Swap . I have use a soft gold sew on plastic crystal. They have two holes, so one is used to attach to the clasp and the other has the red bell and beads. I got this vintage Santa image a few years ago from a fellow mixed media artist. She had a collection of old Christmas cards she had scanned and was sharing.

Vintage Halloween Charm Swap

Here are two charms on the right that are finished for a swap on Two Peas in a Bucket. The left has the 20mm shell disk beads that I started with and still show on the back side. I thought they looked like the harvest moon.
I printed small images of an old postcard. Sealed them with Mod Podge (Glow in the Dark). When dry, I used the light table and traced the circle on the back side and cut it out. Then glued the images to the 20mm shell disks. When dry again, I used Diamond Glaze to cover over the image for a good raised glaze. You have to try not to get bubbles in the Diamond Glaze.
Here are the many disk images drying before I can add more beads. I placed the disk bead on a 1 1/2" jewelry pin head and added the gold moon and star bead.
I love to put the charms together using my muffin tins. I have bought a few old muffin tins to use for project trays. I look for them at the second hand stores. This can then sit on my lap in from of the TV or at a table.