Anita Shackelford
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Quilt Rescue - String Baskets

3/8/2015

6 Comments

 
My string basket quilt is a more recent project and different from the earlier pieces. It’s not only a rescue, but a complete restyle.

I found the top on eBay and was charmed by the 1930s fabrics and the visual complexity of the string piecing. It was not expensive and I thought I would just quilt it up quickly and enjoy it. When it arrived, however, the picture was very different.

Although the color and graphics were still good, the completed top was narrow and very long; not a very functional piece. The strings had been hand stitched to a variety of foundation fabrics. Blocks were also sewn together by hand with seam allowances that measured from ¼” to 1” in width. I debated for a while whether it was really worth finishing. I considered several options, questioned “should I, or shouldn’t I? What would the quilt world think was OK for me to do with it?” In the end, it was my most dramatic rescue and I love it.

The scariest part was taking a rotary cutter to the piece. I cut blocks apart and then cut them to the same size. Then one more time, with the cutter, I cut them into triangles. The string triangles were set with another triangle of muslin and the blocks were set together on point to make basket shapes.


Then the question of quilting it…Quilt by hand or machine? Traditional natural-colored thread or something different? I decided I had already taken the quilt so far from its original roots, that I should keep going in that direction. I loaded it onto my Statler Stitcher and used a bright, variegated King Tut thread to put flowers into the baskets. A red binding finished it, because I love red, and because it brought out so much great color in the old fabrics.

I hope you love this quilt rescue as much as I do. A finished quilt is always better than an old top in a drawer, or closet, or in the trash. I am happy to have given this one a new life.


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6 Comments

Pinwheels Rescue

3/3/2015

0 Comments

 
Today’s rescue quilt started with 25 blocks I bought at auction in 1986. The 3” Pinwheel blocks are a wonderful combination of late 19th century brown prints and shirtings. The alternate fabric in the nine-patch setting is a woven red and white check.

I set them together with a new (at the time) brown print and hand pieced them together. Looking at it now, I suppose part of what I learned with this quilt was how to size the setting triangles around the outside.

I quilted just one line in each of the small pinwheel triangles and then continued with straight line quilting in about the same density for the red squares. I suppose these lines were quilted by eye, or perhaps marked with tape.

I’ve always been in love with feather quilting motifs, so I drew feather wreaths to fill the plain blocks. I did not stitch in the ditch, but 1/4" inside each of these large blocks to frame and stabilize them.

Not much more to say about this one. Enjoy the beautiful fabrics. And if you enjoy feathers and want to try your hand at drawing your own, take a look at my Infinite Feathers book and tool on my website www.anitashackelford.com


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    Author

    Anita has a long background rooted in traditional handwork, and quiltmaking, which she still enjoys.


    But more often, these days, you'll find her digitizing patterns for the Statler Stitcher and other computerized longarm quilting machines. 
     
    Her summer days are spent in the garden and she loves finding new ways to prepare good veggie-based meals.

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