Making Do - Part One

When life gives you lemons [lemonade!].....When life gives you scraps [make a quilt!].

Overused homilies, of course....but oh the fun of making something wonderful out of bits, bobs, and found objects! Lucky for me, us, it is a choice we make...for artistic pleasure, for the good of the Earth, whatever.

During pioneer days, then later the Great Depression and WW2, it was a necessary part of life.

I love this patriotic encouragement!

When I was working on my HQ doll quilt, I mentioned using "shirting"...

...and a friend who wears gorgeous handmade dress shirts took note.

A week later, when he received new shirts from Hong Kong, instead of discarding his worn out shirts, he passed them onto me!

I was thrilled! The cotton fabric is so fine, so lovely! Not exactly what we as quilters mean by "shirtings" but definitely a great addition to my stash. I trimmed away the collars, cuffs and plackets, saved the real pearl buttons...

...and now I am thinking: Can I use them for my next HQ doll quilt?* Or maybe blue and white Lone Star or simple nine patch?

I know I will use them...and think of my friend.

The colors are so me! I almost kept the shirts to wear....

Tomorrow [or soon!]...Making do with rescued woolens and leftover quilt blocks. Plus a make-believe love story of sorts!

*PS: Yes I know I was cranky about my first HQ little quilt, but now I feel challenged to try another---and do a better job! Plus the fun of replenishing my antique fabric stash...again, tiny bits, saved by frugal housewives so long ago!

love

               lizzy

[gone to the beach]

Almost Done....HQDQ

Hi! Yes I am still picking away at this little project!

Probably only the die-hard quilters are still with me at this point,lol.

It isn't trimmed because I was short on fabric for the corners, I may have to redo them....

                              

I was taught that the back of a needlework project should look as good as the front....
No way is anyone gonna see the back of this little guy. I am going to choose a backing and layer it up right away, even though I won't quilt it til summer on the beach....

First though I was auditioning borders. I like a border on a doll quilt because it makes it look a true miniature instead of a block from a large quilt that has been trimmed down and bound.
So we have:

Repro (but vintage? selvedge says 1994) indigo (no)...

Repro 1994 red..(no)...

Cheddar #1 (maybe?)...no corner squares though.

Cheddar # 2: (too pale?)...

Turkey red print that I think is antique, I forget....(maybe?)

One fun thing about digital cameras and quilting: you can really step back and get a good look at try-outs and effects.



For the backing:

First I wanted to use a feedsack (logo type, not floral print), just for fun and to emphasize the make-do quality of my rendition of this quilt. I have one with a lighthouse and one with a turquoise elephant! (neither of which I can find right now, but...).
Or:
antique calico from an old quilt:

repro double pink (a yes unless I find the feedsacks)....

Let me know what you think? And please don't look too closely at my piecework! Boy, am I rusty!

And as a reward for sticking with me and encouraging my progress, here's a sprig of springtime! Just one of my forced bulbs is NOT paperwhites but an adorable baby daffodil.

enjoy!

love

          lizzy

new snowstorm coming up the coast...[sigh]



gone to the beach.....

A Snow Day Visitor...and doll quilt

I've been keeping busy with the Humble Quilts doll quilt challenge...and imagine my surprise when I glanced up from my sewing machine and saw...him! Peering in at me from the lamppost.

Note the coy turn of his head, he doesn't like his picture taken!

Remember this little guy from last summer? With his green tennis ball? I guess he followed me home one day (I feed the gulls on the winter beach; naughty, I know, but---they're hungry). Here he is on the roof of the pool house, staring in at me:Yoohooo! Lizzeeeee! I'm hungry!

And with the beach really snow-covered by the latest wet snow (19"!), probably there is not much food for the gulls. Even the big landfill on the mainland is totally snow encrusted and inaccessible to the gulls. So here he is, looking for a handout! Today he came back, brought his mom! If he brings all the relatives, I am NOT gonna feed them, geez.

All I have is stale bread, wonder if he'll eat apples? Should I go to the fish store (or bait shop, lol!) and get him....? Scallops? Clams? Bait fish?

Anyway, he and Mom ate their Wonderbread and I got back to work on The HQDQ Project:

The blocks are together and here is the layout with the blue spacers.

I tried it with one black and white calico piece [below, top row], a "poverty patch". It is all I have of this c. 1890? treasured print.

But I think the blues look better, the "grey" patch is distracting? I have an indigo repro that I could use for the spacer squares...but I want to use these antiques, despite the rather chaotic effect of mixing designs and grains due to fabric scrap constraints....

The top should be done by the weekend. I hope!

 love

               lizzy

gone to the beach.....