Quilters

I like quilting. I like to look at quilts; I enjoy paging through new quilt books. I like dreaming my way through quilt shops. I like owning quilts that others have made. Once and awhile I even quilt a little myself. Quilting is number 11 of my list of interests and activities to explore more fully when I am retired. Numbers one through ten were the grandchildren I thought I would have. That isn’t looking too likely, so I should have lots of time to quilt.
I have made a few quilts myself, but mostly I enjoy quilting old quilt tops and blocks that the original maker never got around to finishing. Usually I find out just why she never finished. Often they are noticeably less than accurately constructed. Blocks may vary in size. Borders wider or narrower or nonexistent. Often there are atrocious flaws in workmanship. That’s ok. Anything I make has its share of flaws, too.
Just when I think that I’ve met every quilter in town someone tells me about another one. Right now we have the most cozy looking quilt hanging in the library. It is a scrap snowball quilt in yummy fall colors. Snowball describes the assembly of the quilt blocks, not a wintery appearance to the quilt. This one was made by Nancy Wickett. Come in to see it, you’ll be impressed.
Some newer quilt books at the library:
The Art of the Handmade Quilt by Nancy Brenan Daniel. This one is just plain charming. The quilts presented are both old favorites discovered in someone’s attic and brand new quilted wall hangings. A little history of each quilt is given plus patterns for quilt blocks and assembly instructions. The final chapters are instructions on proportion, balance and rhythm in quilts and some explanation of various pattern assembly and technique. The perfect book for choosing your first quilting project, your next quilting project or just to admire with a cup of tea on a lazy afternoon.
Encyclopedia of Classic Quilt Patterns: 101 All-Time Favorites. We bought this book for those talented barn quilt folk that needed some basic patterns. I was pleased to discover that they paint on large pieces of plywood which are then installed on the barn. I had worried about them up on tall ladders trying to paint a complicated quilt pattern in such a large size. This book is terrific for any quilter. It gives cutting, piecing and quilting directions for any number of quilts from a simple log cabin to a more complicated appliquéd Autumn Leaves quilt. Autumn leaves looks like a good way to use up all varieties of assorted fabric scraps. I panicked when I read the direction “cut 634 of leaf template in print fabrics.” I’m pretty sure that I would get bored and give up before I could cut that many. I know that I don’t have the patience to actually appliqué that many leaves onto the quilt top. It surely is pretty, ‘though.
Layer Cake, Jelly Roll and Charm Quilts by Pam & Nicky Lintott. I suppose it’s because we subscribe at the library to a quilting magazine that we receive the occasional quilting supply catalog. I had seen such items for sale: layer cakes and jelly rolls. I hadn’t realized that each is a bundle of fabric cut into specific sizes. A jelly roll is a group of 40 coordinating fabric pieces, each two and a half inches wide. With this book and a jelly roll or layer cake (40 ten inch squares)you will have just what you need to begin to construct your own quilt. I think the whole idea is that you will have less wasted fabric if these specific cuts are just what you need. However, without any scraps, I wouldn’t have anything left to start my collection of 634 leaves.