Samplers

I love making sampler quilts, probably because I don't get bored.  The first bed-sized quilt I made took 14 years to finish.  In those days, before rotary cutters, we made cardboard templates that we traced around and cut with scissors.  That was truly tiring, especially since all the fabric was cotton/poly blend.  I did use a machine to put it together, but I hand quilted it also.  Tough on the hands.  I still have it, but it is stained.  Polyester holds a stain well.  That quilt has now achieved souvenir status!

I have mentioned making a Splendid Sampler quilt this year to commemorate my 70th birthday and in honor of my dear friend Yve who passed away last January.   It is amazing how often I think of her.  She was fun and also a true leftie when it came to politics.   She protested against the Vietnam War, for civil rights, and for equal rights for women.  Talking with her was always interesting.

Before the book came out in the fall, Pat Sloan and Jane Davidson would post a free pattern each week.  I got the book as well as the previous one and started making blocks in July.  Every month, I make 11 6" blocks from book 1 or 2, or Moda Blockheads, or made up.  The 12th block is made from a set of dishtowels thrift-shop-loving Yve gave me a few years ago.   (She gave us quite a few cashmere sweaters picked up at thrift shops, too.  Most of them didn't fit so I turned several into scarves for me and my sister Jenny.)

The backgrounds are all "low volume," mostly shirtings in different colors, and the sashing is a dark beige.  I am quilting this in sections, and when the year is finished in June I'll put the sections together.

The recent Bonnie Hunter mystery with its identical blocks made over and over just about killed me with its dullness.   I look forward to quilting it, getting it done, and giving it away.   I am looking forward to starting something else but am trying hard to work on UFOs at the same time.

I really like Jen Kingwell's quilts and have just ordered her My Small World pattern.  It's a sampler but more jumbled up than The Splendid Sampler.   It will be a project for summer, so between now and then I'll gather fabrics for it.  I especially love the pieced sky in this wallhanging.