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.

spools--top completed

672 spools.
At least 100 of them made with scraps from my mother's stash.
There are a couple of duplicates, but most fabrics used only once.
Set 24 by 28. I made them into blocks of 4, with one of each four made with pink fabric.
I used Kona Cotton Rich Red for the constant.
No borders. I love it!
Made with 3 inch finished blocks, as part of a year long challenge by Bonnie Hunter.

tip #26 putting the blocks backwards on the design wall

Sometimes I am really persnickety about not twisting seam allowances.
Not very often--I am usually quite laissez faire about it, to the point of calling the flipped seams "twisted sisters".
But, on the occasion it does matter to me, I put my blocks up backwards on my design wall. This way I can watch the seam allowances and make sure I am putting the sections together in a way that keeps the seams from twisting.

As this picture shows, the spools are all getting put together!

spools, lots of spools

I am starting to put them together.

more of mom's scraps

I made some more spools with my mother's scraps. Some of our childhood clothing in this group. Also, some feedsacks.

pink spools

I needed some variety in my pinks for my spool quilt, and my small group came through with giving me a nice assortment of 10 inch strips to make these.

mood! swatch!!

Alas, no Tim Gunn.
I was in New York last week and made a stop at Mood.
It was fun to see the shopping haunts of Project Runway, and of course, the dog Swatch.

I picked up two pieces of fabric that I will share with my neighbor, Sharon.
I already used bits of them in these spool blocks.
Make it work!

mom's scraps used again in spools

I am making the spools along with Bonnie Hunter as an ongoing project for the year.
Once again, I am using some of my mother's scraps. Each scrap is a wonderful memory.
Now that I have made many from her scraps, I will work from my own. This is an incentive to keep working on organizing my sewing room.
I am using Kona Cotton Rich Red for my constant.