Gone To The Beach: 08.01.2023

Tuesday, August 1, 2023

Cartwheels Quilt

We had strange weather blow through the other evening: Odd clouds, yellow sky [eeek, tornado?], the a brief but violent downpour. Like a wet blizzard. An hour later the night sky was all black velvet and HUGE moon like a spotlight, shining in. Bizarre. Now today, huh. Let me just say this: 86 and windy is better than 79 and still. The biting flies and gnats chased us off the deck. The still air has generated dragonflies, butterflies [small, rusty/ Painted Lady?], swarms of small bees and other biting critters. I have to look online for bug repellent for Mo. The flies bit him terribly in moments.

And now it is August, long awaited July, first month of summer, is gone.

One of my planned-ahead summer projects was to complete the binding on Cartwheels and give it a gentle wash. Last stitch the other day, as July came to an end.

I bought the circular blocks during the darkest times of Covid lockdown, either on eBay or Amazon Marketplace. Oddly they were perfectly 14 1/2" square, all of them. [trimmed] but the piecing was was/ is wild and wonky, especially the cheddar circles around the spokes.

Unlike some ''finishers'' I do not ''fix'', or remake, wonky blocks. At most I repair holes or areas of bad stains. I feel that the original maker's work, bad, good, excellent or awful, is worth saving and valuing, studying.

The new but old red sashing, from a small yardage I had of 19th century turkey red matched a lot better in low winter light and before I had my eye surgery.

I got up the nerve to wash the quilt. The final texture is amazing and well worth the anxiety. Maybe there was an overall fade in the old blocks but looking at the before and after pics I can't differentiate, so it must be okay. Beautiful Feather quilting by Lori C at Quilters Imagination.

before wash

after wash

Only one spoke shredded and can be replaced at some point. Washing settled the very badly pieced cheddar rims, too.

Amazingly the red solids---and old prints too, ya never know--did not run or bleed. I had tested the antique blocks w a damp Q-tip and got a lot of red residue. Uh oh.

Wash was gentle , cold, lots of Retayne [as label directions of volume to yardage estimate] and maybe 8 Color Catchers. One tee-shirt added as a filler turned ugly pink but everything else seemed fine. Color Catchers were slightly dingy but not much pickup. Dryer on normal/ medium to get the crinkle and dry it enough to allay mildew worries w high humidity.

This project's backstory has an odd synchronicity for me. I owned a lovely Southern provenance Wagonwheels quilt early in my quilt collecting years. It was cheddar ground with black tires or wheel rims and many tiny pieced scraps as spokes. The back was a beautiful blue plaid homespun. Black thread utility quilting! Prob dated around 1890-1900? At that time I was more focused on lighter brighter quilts, as I moved from Brooklyn where I displayed my most primitive dark quilts on the 14' exposed brick walls. The quilt languished in my cupboard, but the dealer who sold it to me from his personal collection always asked about the quilt and wished he had not parted with it.

Needing money I finally sent it back to him to either keep or sell. But I too regreted parting with it. I made my current Cartwheels in its memory. The dealer sadly passed away this year, never having sold my quilt---and his family understandably had no idea about its whereabouts. Gone into auction no doubt. [I lost my stoneware crock collection in a similar manner---lent to my dad, auctioned with his own crocks when he passed away. You'd think I would learn.]

Last note: The final result is not quite what I imagined, the cheddar bars and accents were added, a way to widen the quilt. I'm not a fan of long rectangular quilts. I love the result. And happy that it is washed and fresh so it can be a bed or table display quilt, maybe late fall.

How about you---do you use old orphan blocks? Are you a fixer or a keeper? And why?

Two quilts from IG:

Pansies bec it is so adorable!

And ---NOT mine!---from IG, great ''someday'' project idea, knowing how I love making Flying Geese blocks. Love the subtle color play and neutral bars.