Whirling Star: New Project

As if I need a new project. But it's going to be a beautiful quilt.

First, I'll start with a vintage quilt that has seen better days. This was one of my very first purchases from ebay, lo these many years ago.

A somewhat unusual pattern, very energetic, and very bright with the red and green. The red fabric is weak though and is breaking. Certain other fabrics are weak too, wearing so much that there are holes in the top. Doesn't matter, I use this quilt almost every night.

Next: about a year ago, I bought a book on feed sacks (of course!) that also had patterns in it for recreating some classic 30's and 40's quilts.

Feed-sacks! by Edie McGinnis has some good information on feedsacks (not sentimental mishmash) and some projects I didn't care for, but also this:
A detailed pattern for my quilt! I've stared at this for a while now and I have decided that this summer is the time. As with my nosegay quilt (see this post) I have decided to use real feedsack fabric, vintage cotton scraps, whatever I have on hand. It helps that I recently purchased two box lots of mixed scraps of cotton and feedsack off ebay.
I could use reproduction fabric - but somehow the fabrics are too pretty and it wouldn't look right. Actually I am probably buying the pretty fabric, leaving behind the browns, navies, plaids etc.
I am using reproduction red for the corners, keeping with the theme of red in my old quilt. I am using new unbleached muslin, and yellow for the centers, so each block looks like a flower. Here is the first finished block.

This pattern finishes at 12 inches. In my vintage quilt, each block is 9 inches square.
I am excited by how this project is developing. I think I have enough vintage and new fabric to finish a lap quilt for sure, probably a single bed quilt.
So, alas, the nosegay wall hanging, the bunkhouse quilt - they are newly created UFO's (unfinished objects) - for now.
I'll post more as I get more blocks done.
Viridian

Bunk house or prairie braid quilt project

What a great stash-busting project!
Have you seen this kind of quilt pattern before? It's also sometimes called Braided Border. You work with long strips - adding light and dark fabrics to the end. Above is what they look like, rolled into a manageable size for the sewing machine.


This is what they look like unrolled and laid out side by side. You get a neat light and dark chevron pattern.

I am using instructions from Mary Ellen Hopkins A Log Cabin Notebook. Each individual strip is cut 1 and 1/2 inches by 6 inches - they finish at 1 inch wide.

Close up: What a great way to use up ugly fabric. Well, I thought it was pretty once! And you can mix contemporary and reproduction fabrics with 'vintage fabrics' from the 80's and 90's and it still looks great.

I won't post instructions here. I'm not sure I could write them clearly enough.

Bonnie Hunter has instructions on her web site and several different variations.

See her Pioneer Braid Border page. I am sure there are other web sites with instructions too.

Other than cutting many many strips, and thinking about lights and darks, this is a pretty simple quilt to make, which may be just what you need. I pull this out in-between other projects where I have to sew things in a certain order, or I have to carefully match corners.

I am also working on a pinwheel pattern with my real feedsack fabric - more on that later.

viridian