iPhone-o-Gram! It's coming home!

I ran out to run some errands – and found myself driving past the antique mall where the wonderful North Carolina quilt was found last week –

Would it still be there?

I had to run in and see –

Yes! There it is!

I open the folds to inspected further – it is every bit as wonderful as I remembered, with the addition of another label plainly visible on the back corner.

How did I miss this one? The label reads Walkertown Mills!

Walkertown is even closer to me than Winston-Salem.

This quilt is such a rich example of North Carolina history, I am definitely not leaving it behind again – this will be coming home! :-)

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Friendship Thimbles!

It was last year for my birthday that Karen L sent me this HUGE bag stuffed full of pre-cut thimble pieces.

They’ve been calling my name for a long time ----I’ve pulled them out to play, and then put them back again as I wasn’t sure what I really wanted to do with these little guys.

These were cut way before accuquilt die cutters were invented…each one traced and cut by hand.

Fabrics in here range from what seems to be the late 1970s through the 1990s.

Karen, if you are listening ----was this a Y2K project?  Is there a template available for these guys in case I need to make more?  ((I suppose I could get one made in this size if I had to!))

I have had a great deal of fun looking at the print on each one, recognizing some – but completely unknowing on others!

I’ve done a “Thousand Pyramids” quilt before ---

This is Millenium Pyramids, has 2000 pieces in the quilt center, and was my “Y2K” project made from charm squares that were traded with quilters all over the world.

This was a fun quilt to do with so many different fabrics.  Did you know I even have an “early” tutorial for it HERE?

What I learned from this project was how to “Pin, Baby, Pin!!”

And I think that is what has me daunted by all these little thimbles.  Pinning is not my favorite thing to do! LOL!  But I know I need to do it.

I had to monkey with a few of these yesterday to find how just how much I needed to offset these so that when I opened them up, they would form a straight strip of thimbles --- not a jagged mess.  This was ANOTHER thing I remembered from Millenium Pyramids.  You have to learn where and how to align them

I recognize BOTH of these fabrics!

Since I’m pinning anyway I thought about pressing seams open.  I’m still not convinced that is the best way to go, but these guys are small! Would pressing toward every-other-one be better?

Cute 1980s fabrics!

These are not a standard size, they are  2 1/4" tall, so they will finish at 1 3/4" tall.  I'm going to have to make a template if I find myself needing more because I have no idea how many there are in this bag.....so no idea how long to make rows, how many rows to make, etc.

And I do NOT want to count them!

This is where I need those of you who have done a tumbler or thimble quilt to give me a bit of advice.  Did you alternate light/dark? Did you sew everything randomly?  Did you press seams open or to one side or every other one?

This would be a great suit-case project for my travels!

It’s also begging to be a leader/ender project as well --- sewing these into pairs in between the lines of other things would be such a SIMPLE thing to do…pairs can be joined to pairs, 4s can be joined to 4s and so forth all with a simple little seam.

I found myself sewing 4 patches together on Mildred, the 66 treadle while I watched Downton Abbey last night.  And I stopped and couldn’t treadle any farther as soon as things took a turn with Sybil.  If you haven’t seen it yet, that’s all I’m saying.  I could sew no further.

Goodness, I am not even in control of my emotions this morning.

It’s a SHOW, Bonnie – it’s just a SHOW!

Yes, but still.

PS -- I have a bee meeting tonight, and I'm actually in town for it!  So there will be no Quilt-Cam tonight, let's shoot for Tomorrow night, 9pm Eastern, okay? I'll let you know for sure tomorrow.

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Jan 27 Quilt-Cam Afternoon!

This is Lucy ----and she is Gisele’s Keeper of the Quilts!

Gisele writes:

Hi Bonnie
Joining you for quilt cam from dreary Jersey in the UK. Loved doing easy street, my 1st mystery Bonnie Hunter quilt & had a little help/hindrance from Lucy! Gisele x

 Oh she is so cute!  And OH...she looks like she could get into SEW MUCH TROUBLE!

It’s a cold cold day here in North Carolina as well, and I’m gearing up to do some more stitching on my string geese in the basement!
 

 
They are now into pairs….I’ve snipped and pressed so things lay flat. 
 
The next thing will be to stitch them into 4s, and then finally into 8s….
 
Will we have complete rows by the end of Quilt-Cam?  Who knows!  But I know I’ll sure enjoy sewing along with you!

Want to come join me?  Bring a project!  I’m turning on the cam in the studio for a while!

You can leave a comment in the comment section below, or leave one in the guest book by clicking the blue guest book button in the left hand side bar, While I can't answer them all ---I do pick randomly and try to answer questions and comments as I sew!

Streaming Live by Ustream

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Shredded Silks, Etc.

I have rarely seen a silk quilt from the Victorian era in good shape. 

The silk processing meant that heavy metals and fiber-weakening
mordants were used in the fabric finishing process to give silk a heavier hand ((Oh, ladies loved the swishing sound of heavy silk skirts!)) and along with the dye process, deteriorated the silk over time. 




Many such quilts are just in shreds ----and it is so sad to see because silk quilts shimmer like no other!

This one is just a simple square-in-a-square, and uses the repeated grey stripe through out the quilt ---llok at it close and you see stars emerging, look at it again and you see diamonds!

Shredded diamonds.

Oh, but I can’t resist seeing the luscious fabrics up close, and perhaps running a finger over the shimmering fibers.

This was another “wonder” quilt – which means:  I will wonder about the story behind it, wonder about the maker, wonder about the source of the fabrics ---and wonder how it passed through a family's hands until it was no longer cherished or wanted and found its way, wonder of wonders, to a lowly little antique mall in North Carolina.

Unlike it’s uppity embroidered and overly embellished cousins, this silk quilt is just patchwork, plain and simple.  Square in a square--- side by side.  and it is STUNNING.  I may need to do one of these in the future. What a great leader/ender it would be!

This poor beat up child’s  toy machine ALMOST made it home with me.  But for the condition, I just felt the price was too high.  It’s adorable, though, isn’t it?

Those of you who are new here might not know that I also love to include a treasure hunt for the WEIRDEST antique mall item while I’m out shopping too.  It keeps your eyes always open, and you find things that you might have missed otherwise!  These items usually bring on fits of giggles and big smiles and makes you happy to leave some things behind when the day is done.

A year or so ago it seemed that I was running into these in really strange places ---

DIVING HELMETS!

This Post shared another helmet from another trip, along with some other really weird stuff that did not come home either!  This post shows another diving helmet – they are everywhere!  So yes, I collect Sewing Machines --- but I actually use them.

Come to think of it --DH can always be glad that I don't collect DIVING HELMETS! Would I use an antique diving helmet?

The label on the helmet was pretty cool though!

And as far as weird stuff goes --Remember the life sized Frankenstein??

What is one person’s treasure -----does not make it mine! LOL!

I’m turning on the Quilt-Cam at 2pm Eastern.  Yes.  I’m still working on those dang geese.  We worked on them Friday night – and I haven’t even cut that batch apart to press yet, so that is my job this morning to get ready.  I hope you’ll bring a project and come sew along!

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