Unfinished Quilt Stories
05-08-2019, 08:09 AM
#21
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Location: Greater Peoria, IL -- just moved!
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Not all the unquilted tops have stories... but here are more of my now 30-year old son's unfinished tops. I have edited this to point out that he has gotten many finished tops as well!
He had bunkbeds for a number of years. I think we changed them out when he was about 12 and they were long gone by the time I had the fabric collected and the top made. I saw this concept in Quilter's Newsletter but I wasn't happy with it as a square, my boots are taller (and made for walking!) by half an inch. So you aren't seeing double, I made two quilts for the bunk beds. About half the boots are the same in both quilts, and about half are only in that quilt. If they were for twins, I'd probably pick two color ways of the same fabric and use it as the border on one quilt and the backing on the other. But these were made for matching decor so have the same border, a basic chocolate brown backing, and the binding is the spongy sand. Again, many of these both tops and feet were made from the 10" swapping squares, others collected by me along the way.
One of my friends really liked the bug jar and the boot concept, she made coordinating quilts for her grandson's bunkbeds using one of each. They both used the same bright turquoise blue back fabric, her cowboys were more Montana while mine definitely are from the southwest.
Edit 2: I do have a quilting design for this, I will most likely being doing the uneven pointed star sort of stipple, or if I can work out a lasso that looks like one, something like that for the background. The thread will be the basic tan color of the background. I'll swoop down into the boots at the tab area with a big tear drop shape, smaller one inside of that. I'll do some zig zags on the heels (which are all the same solid black btw), and on top of the toe a wider ziggy with little loops at the end, an actual leather sewing sort of design.
He had bunkbeds for a number of years. I think we changed them out when he was about 12 and they were long gone by the time I had the fabric collected and the top made. I saw this concept in Quilter's Newsletter but I wasn't happy with it as a square, my boots are taller (and made for walking!) by half an inch. So you aren't seeing double, I made two quilts for the bunk beds. About half the boots are the same in both quilts, and about half are only in that quilt. If they were for twins, I'd probably pick two color ways of the same fabric and use it as the border on one quilt and the backing on the other. But these were made for matching decor so have the same border, a basic chocolate brown backing, and the binding is the spongy sand. Again, many of these both tops and feet were made from the 10" swapping squares, others collected by me along the way.
One of my friends really liked the bug jar and the boot concept, she made coordinating quilts for her grandson's bunkbeds using one of each. They both used the same bright turquoise blue back fabric, her cowboys were more Montana while mine definitely are from the southwest.
Edit 2: I do have a quilting design for this, I will most likely being doing the uneven pointed star sort of stipple, or if I can work out a lasso that looks like one, something like that for the background. The thread will be the basic tan color of the background. I'll swoop down into the boots at the tab area with a big tear drop shape, smaller one inside of that. I'll do some zig zags on the heels (which are all the same solid black btw), and on top of the toe a wider ziggy with little loops at the end, an actual leather sewing sort of design.
Last edited by Iceblossom; 05-08-2019 at 08:21 AM.
05-08-2019, 08:47 AM
#22
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Location: Greater Peoria, IL -- just moved!
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I should be doing other things... but one more story and then I have to start packing up to go to my mom's. She's having back surgery on Friday and I will be there for at least the next two weeks. I'll have computer access but not sure if I'll be posting from there or not.
Ok, this quilt sort of belongs in two categories. Probably after I come back from my mom's I'll start posting my Quilts for Each Month Project. Short form is I made quilts all the time but always gave them away. My own were rotting away so I would make myself a quilt for each month. Not a quilt a month (which I've done) but for each month, so it's been a couple years now and will be a couple more and it deserves it's own thread. But this one I decided wasn't worthy, it is couch sized and I want bed sized, couple other things.
I made a donation quilt as an original variation of a ribbon block, but by using two different blocks set on point, it was all large and easy square seams and no triangles. A pet peeve of mine is when I piece a triangle all nice and everything and then it gets turned into a square by the piece next to it! One of the guild ladies asked me to teach a class in it and this was the piece I made to have for the class demonstration and also to see how long it would take. I wrote up directions and sized it in various ways from crib to queen sized. My donation variation I do have an old school photograph somewhere and used a different focus under-the-sea fabric for each ribbon (so the red in this one) with the same squares in all columns that are green here.
I don't have them handy but I should be able to find those directions if anyone wants them, it's a fast donation quilt that I made several times, just didn't get this one for me done.
The cardinal fabric was one of my thrift store finds and I just think it's so fun, but this quilt is sized to what it is because that's all the fabric I had and was never going to be able to get any more.
Planned to replace it will be a string quilt variation, white background, first string next to the white will be the same red, all the other strings will be random. I went through my Christmas fabrics when I was purging and kept only true red, white, and green fabrics for this. All the others (an entire file box) went to the Forgotten Children's Fund volunteers who made stockings of them.
PS: Yes, in one of my compulsive moments I decided I had to piece the binding from the green and red used in the blocks. Pieced binding can be a lot of fun -- really!
Edit: Oh! I found the perfect continuous line cardinal quilting design that I'll fit into the peaks of the red triangle shapes, white thread. Will fill in the rest with holly leaves.
Ok, this quilt sort of belongs in two categories. Probably after I come back from my mom's I'll start posting my Quilts for Each Month Project. Short form is I made quilts all the time but always gave them away. My own were rotting away so I would make myself a quilt for each month. Not a quilt a month (which I've done) but for each month, so it's been a couple years now and will be a couple more and it deserves it's own thread. But this one I decided wasn't worthy, it is couch sized and I want bed sized, couple other things.
I made a donation quilt as an original variation of a ribbon block, but by using two different blocks set on point, it was all large and easy square seams and no triangles. A pet peeve of mine is when I piece a triangle all nice and everything and then it gets turned into a square by the piece next to it! One of the guild ladies asked me to teach a class in it and this was the piece I made to have for the class demonstration and also to see how long it would take. I wrote up directions and sized it in various ways from crib to queen sized. My donation variation I do have an old school photograph somewhere and used a different focus under-the-sea fabric for each ribbon (so the red in this one) with the same squares in all columns that are green here.
I don't have them handy but I should be able to find those directions if anyone wants them, it's a fast donation quilt that I made several times, just didn't get this one for me done.
The cardinal fabric was one of my thrift store finds and I just think it's so fun, but this quilt is sized to what it is because that's all the fabric I had and was never going to be able to get any more.
Planned to replace it will be a string quilt variation, white background, first string next to the white will be the same red, all the other strings will be random. I went through my Christmas fabrics when I was purging and kept only true red, white, and green fabrics for this. All the others (an entire file box) went to the Forgotten Children's Fund volunteers who made stockings of them.
PS: Yes, in one of my compulsive moments I decided I had to piece the binding from the green and red used in the blocks. Pieced binding can be a lot of fun -- really!
Edit: Oh! I found the perfect continuous line cardinal quilting design that I'll fit into the peaks of the red triangle shapes, white thread. Will fill in the rest with holly leaves.
Last edited by Iceblossom; 05-08-2019 at 08:53 AM.
05-08-2019, 09:19 AM
#23
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Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: Outside of St Louis MO
Posts: 58
I love these stories! And you've inspired me to go through my own boxes of UFO's (in various stages) and write down a plan for each of them. If I don't Love it any longer, I'll finish it and donate it. Thank you!
Last edited by QuiltnNan; 05-08-2019 at 09:48 AM. Reason: shouting/all caps
05-08-2019, 09:43 AM
#24
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Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Mississippi
Posts: 26,037
I have a Jerry Springer quilt story too! When we found out a young man we knew and liked was finally getting married, I began making a quilt. Had never met the bride-to-be.... So we gave them the quilt, they got married, and within about a month the marriage was over and they were separate. Turns out she married our friend to get back at an ex-boyfriend who she wanted to be with. It worked, and she left our friend, like a cast off pair of socks! She was conniving and manipulative, but guess who ended up with the quilt? Yes, she got it and most everything they were given as gifts. Our poor friend: Used and abused.
Jerry Springer.
Jerry Springer.
05-08-2019, 10:49 AM
#25
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Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Greater Peoria, IL -- just moved!
Posts: 6,070
Don't it figure, Sewbizgirl. That's the one saving grace of the story is that I still have the top. And since I never announce I'm giving a quilt to someone until it's done, nobody but the hubby even knows.
LynnBBQ, a few years ago I went through and made a spreadsheet of my UFOs and unfinished tops. At that time I had over 20 which is why I'm glad I'm under for the moment. Full disclosure: Some of the same quilts are still on the list but many others have come in gone. I consider a finished top a finished project, just not quite a quilt yet... I no longer have anything I consider a UFO, sure, some projects have been collected but not started and there are a couple works in progress but that's not the same thing.
With the spread sheet I measured the tops and put that down plus any notes I needed and I had various boxes for stage of completion. So like fabrics collected, top finished, back purchased, quilting design chosen? That really helped me get ready so they could be quilted down as well as think about the quilting aspect, again it's not easy for me. You'll notice in my photos that my binding is generally already made and is stored with the tops and backs. I try now to always put the project into quilting hold with it's back, binding, quilting designs, and notes to myself
LynnBBQ, a few years ago I went through and made a spreadsheet of my UFOs and unfinished tops. At that time I had over 20 which is why I'm glad I'm under for the moment. Full disclosure: Some of the same quilts are still on the list but many others have come in gone. I consider a finished top a finished project, just not quite a quilt yet... I no longer have anything I consider a UFO, sure, some projects have been collected but not started and there are a couple works in progress but that's not the same thing.
With the spread sheet I measured the tops and put that down plus any notes I needed and I had various boxes for stage of completion. So like fabrics collected, top finished, back purchased, quilting design chosen? That really helped me get ready so they could be quilted down as well as think about the quilting aspect, again it's not easy for me. You'll notice in my photos that my binding is generally already made and is stored with the tops and backs. I try now to always put the project into quilting hold with it's back, binding, quilting designs, and notes to myself
05-09-2019, 03:09 AM
#30
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Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Illinois
Posts: 1,806
What a great thread! Enjoyed each one in your "trunk show" and the stories attached. I especially enjoyed seeing the way you embellished your bugs in a jar quilt. I've made several of those but no embellishment--and I have several of those fabrics available for more projects. Thanks for sharing.
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