spools and bowties--detail

Bowties and Spools at the Chicago Botanic Garden

I submitted two quilts to the Fine Art of Fiber exhibit at the Chicago Botanic Garden.
They were hung together at my request, because they are both made with scraps from my own and my mother's fabric collections.
There are fabrics of well over 80 years of sewing for 6 generations of our family.

Each quilt has 672 three inch blocks. Spools uses Kona Rich Red for the constant. Bowties uses Moda Bella Gold.
They were quilted by Sue DiVarco using wool batts.

There is planning in each quilt. Units for each were pieced into blocks of 4; the Spools had a pink spool in each block and the Bowties had a red bowtie in each block.

Both quilts were made in response to scrap challenges on Bonnie Hunter's blog.

bowties!

672 of them!
Set 24 by 28. Pieced into blocks of 4, then blocks of 16, then blocks of 64 with a row of partial blocks.
Quilt size determined by how much of the cheddar fabric I had--there was enough left for about 8 more.
Fabrics from my scraps, about 50 from my mother's, and a few from friends.
There are a few repeats, maybe 5.

Bowtie blocks measure 3 inches finished, made from 2 inch squares and 1 1/4 inch squares used as a flip and sew for the connectors.
Inspired by a post and challenge a year ago by Bonnie Hunter at Quiltville.

Now, contemplating borders.
And, enjoying these glorious gladioli from Andy.

mom's scraps--part six

"GUCKI BIRDS" A REGULATED COTTON "NEVER MISBEHAVES"
I loved this print as a child--I couldn't wait for Janna to outgrow the dress mom used it for so that I could have it as a hand-me-down.

mom's scraps--part five

More bow ties from my mother's scraps. They include fabrics from her mother and mother-in-law, including true feedsack from which they fed the chickens!
It is interesting the variety of textures in cotton fabrics of the 1950s and 1960s. The weaves, slubs, thread changes all add to the interest.
When I touched the top right fabric of the second picture, there came a flood of memories of lying with my face on her lap in church.

mom's scraps--part four

I made some more bowties from my mother's scraps.

blocks of four

I am starting to put them into blocks of 4 bowties. There are about 400 bowties at this point.
I was happy to be in Naperville on Thursday evening to hear Bonnie Hunter speak. Any more of you making the cheddar bowties along with her?

mom's scraps--part one

I've been making the cheddar bow ties that Bonnie Hunter has had as a blog project for the past year.
When I was home this Easter, my mother gave me some of her scraps from sewing she did when I was a child, and here are some of them used in the bow tie blocks.
I love the banana and fruit women. They are about 2 inches long.
More to come soon.

bowties

Bonnie Hunter posted a bowtie pattern that many are making with cheddar background.
This project fit in well with my stash organizing and with my fall teaching schedule limiting my sewing time. I am enjoying using fabrics I purchased 30 years ago all the way through to fabric added this week. As you can tell, I've been cutting up the purples.
Over 90 blocks are made as of this evening and it will be a pleasant time adding to them over the next few months.
Cheddar fabric: two 2 inch cut squares
Bowtie fabric: two 2 inch cut squares and two 1 1/4 inch cut squares to sew on a diagonal.
Finished bowtie block 3 inches (unfinished 3 1/2 inches)