Portrait of a Lady.

I came across this portrait while browsing the Internet and couldn't resist showing it.  The dates chime with the Sundial Coverlet so MCB, the maker whose initials are on the coverlet, could have looked very like this lady. 

While I am working on my quilt I am constantly looking for late 18th century links as I find it helps to keep me motivated and it's amazing what turns up!

The portrait is of Deborah Richmond and it is in the Abbey Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum in Williamsburg.  I was surprised to see it  described as a portrait of a young lady - it certainly isn't very flattering!  Do you think she would have done patchwork? 

If you would like to read more about her,  here is the link

Filling the Basket

There are to be baskets on the four corners of the quilt and I have based the design on one seen on a similar quilt to the Sundial, dated 1799.

I  photocopied the fabric I intend using and auditioned the cut out paper pieces on the square of background ticking -

The handle won't be white - this was just the ordinary paper template!

Sorry this picture  is a bit out of focus, I took it hurriedly this morning,  it is just to give an idea where the baskets are to be placed.

 
You will notice that I have at last sewn all the squares together - no more Block Butler!  I I did it by hand as many of the pieces needed a bit of easing in.  I couldn't do this on the sewing machine as I am not a good enough machinist, so I think it will all hand sewn - apart maybe from the very outer borders - but a long way to go yet!


  

Cottage Orne Continued

It is now just over a year since I began this blog recording my tribute to the Sundial Coverlet at the Victoria and Albert Museum.  I put it on hold this March, simply because I needed a rest from it and had other projects that needed my attention.  Do any of you feel like this on a long project?  Sometimes I simply run out of steam and need a break, however I do admire those who stick to one project and pursue it to the end.

Well now I have begun again - here is the centre of the quilt still floating freely -

and here it is being auditioned (on my sitting room floor) with surrounding border -

Do you ever have a fabric which you want to included in a quilt but no matter how you try it just won't go?
Well I regularly have this problem, this is my current "no it really doesn't work" fabric -

It's a piece of lovely G.P. & J Baker curtaining called "Parrot and Pineapple" and has the same delicate colouring but so far it keeps being rejected.  Rather than cut into fabric I usually photocopy a section then cut out pieces and audition that -

It's a slow process and I envy anyone who has a design wall and doesn't have to use the floor with cats wandering around!

I also have another problem - my patterns, notes and some already worked bits are in one of these boxes  which have been packed prior to having the tiled floor in my workroom restored -

 
This was done before I decided to return to the quilt.  They are too heavy for me to explore so I am waiting for a willing pair of hands to appear!

Sorry - project on hold!

I am so sorry I have been absent this year.  In truth I have had to shelve this project because of other commitments but when time permits I am sewing the little blocks together.  I have certainly not abandoned it and as soon as I am able I will return! 

Last three small blocks

Sorry that I haven't posted for a while but here are the last three small blocks -

As I mentioned in my last post, I did consider including a rather complicated star block which I found on an old Dutch quilt - I even drafted in on graph paper, but then decided against it.  These blocks are taken from an English quilt dated 1799 and are fairly simple.

As I have a few Christmas projects to work on,  I am now going to take a break and begin again in the New Year, when I will be starting on the four corner basket blocks. 

Tune in again in 2012 when I will continue on my journey! 

Bit of a set back - not the last four blocks!

Though I haven't updated this blog for a while, I have been working on the quilt, albeit a bit spasmodically.  I suppose it is inevitable that the pace lags a bit on this sort of project, because life gets in the way and life in the form of a collapsed drain has managed to intrude! 

The set back wasn't that though!  It is simply that I miscalculated the number of small blocks.  I thought these were the last four -

but when I laid everything out on the spare bed this morning, I discovered that I needed three more, making a total of sixty six.

As I said in a previous post, I am now not drafting exclusively Sundial block patterns, but taking ideas for blocks from other quilts made around the same time e.g. in the first picture only the two top blocks are from the Sundial.  I have just seen a lovely star block in a picture of an old Dutch quilt and I am going to draft that.  Back to the drawing board!

Another at last!

Apologies for not posting, in truth I had very little to show and even now I only have one complete block, the other, as you can see, is nearly there but not quite  -

The completed Compass Rose Block was based on one at the centre of a quilt made in 1799, with a similar layout to the Sundial but with very much simpler blocks. 

The secondary spokes of the compass, which I did in brown, really aren't strong enough and don't hold their own with the outer ring of pieces.  I should have chosen stronger contrasts but I actually quite like its subtlety.  Just to liven it up a bit I pieced it into a striped background which gives the block a bit of zing!

The unfinished piece is from the Sundial and I'm struggling with the piecing of this much more than the Compass Rose.  I can never understand why these Compass blocks are considered difficult because they are all straight piecing, you just have to get the fabric choice right!

After these two, I have only four small blocks to work and I have cut out two today, so will be able to settle down this evening and piece while watching "Downton Abbey"  (UK favourite Sunday Evening Drama).  It's  on ITV unfortunately because it there are so many adverts that one needs a diversion!

When I finish the little blocks I then begin the four larger corner blocks and of course the internal borders, so a long way to go!