Wednesday, August 14, 2019

Pink and Blue

Pink and Blue,

Boy and Girl, 

I put together two quilts

That I want to show you.

****
I guess this my funny way of showing
you what I finally finished last week.
But there's a story that
goes along with these two quilts.

It begins with these
cute vintage animal designs.

I'm guessing
that they are a 1940's to
early 1950's pattern.

The designs were ironed onto
both pink and blue fabrics.


They were embroidered with
2 strands of pink or blue floss.

On the blue animals
most of the embroidery was done with a
very tiny couching stitch,


while the pink animals
were done with very
small running stitches.


Instead of hand appliqueing the
pieces down, the edges were turned
and then machine stitched.


So, who made these blocks and then
appliqued them onto two large pieces of
toweling material?


No one knows.

But it was someone who wanted to make
something special for a boy or girl,
someone with some needlework skills,
but someone who never finished her ideas.

The next part of the story is that
a friend of mine, Liz Marweg rescued
these panels a few years ago on one of
her many jaunts for junk trips.

Then a few months ago she
passed these sweet pieces on to me.
One day I got brave and
started to cut.


Keeping it simple, I divided
the blocks into two quilts,
one with blue sashing and
one with pink, but
both with pink and blue animals.


The only border fabric I could find in my stash
that even began to go with these quilts
was an old Susan Branch teapot fabric.
It pays to have a stash.

Also I just discovered that Susan Branch
has many sweet designs on Spoonflower.

Then to add a bit more texture I added blue ric rac and
a pink ric rac to the edges before attaching the bindings.



I love how these two quilts finished
with simple machine quilting outlining the animals,
some quilting in the ditch,
and straight lines in the borders.

The animals are the stars.


A Boy's Quilt
28" x 39"



A Girl's Quilt
28" x 39"

It was the combination of 3 people's
love of quilt making that eventually
got these quilts finished.


Until Next Time-
Kyle

18 comments:

  1. What a fantastic rescue story! These two little gems are adorable and so are the holders! Thanks for sharing the story and the wonderful results of three quilt lover's efforts!

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  2. I love your quilts. What a great rescue. Hugs

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  3. Kyle que bonita historia, Gracias por compartir.
    Dulces edredones para tus preciosos pitufos
    saludos

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  4. A very sweet story to bring these 2 quilts into the 21st Century and be loved by the grandlittles! Such a coincidence that you mentioned Spoonflower - last night at our guild meeting we had a member who works directly with them and she told us all about the company. Very interesting...lots of creative possibilities.

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  5. You were meant to have them and wonderful quilts resulted. I love a good rescue story!

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  6. Such sweet blocks, so glad your friend rescued them and you found the courage to cut them up! I like the pink and blue combo, it really works well.

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  7. Cute, cute, cute! Love how you turned those sweet little blocks into two quilts. Inserting ric-rac was a great idea! Nice label, too, with all the pertinent info :)

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  8. Well, all I can say is cuteness overload!! I love the way you salvaged those little blocks and made them shine. Those grands are cuties too!

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  9. So much love put in these blocks and in the quilts. Hope they will be treasured for a long, long time.
    I ❤️ what you did with the blocks!

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  10. Your quilts are very cute and I love to see their 2 faces on the pictures ! :))
    What great memories for these 2 little kids !

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  11. Absolutely adorable. I love the story of how these quilts came to be. What fun to rescue forgotten, vintage blocks. Excellent job, Kyle!

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  12. What a fun little challenge. These sorts of things just hit all the high points of frugal/fun quilting. Very sweet looking quilts!

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  13. I love a good rescue story. Well done! Love the ric rac on the binding too. Your label is great! Such cute kiddos too.

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  14. This is wonderful! It is always so interesting (like a mystery) to think of how these things were made, why and by whom, don't you think? So much part of the charm of vintage work. And you did a great job rescuing this lovely work. It was done with great attention and love and you sure respected that in the way you used it. Someone else's and your work will now be loved for many years to come. Thank you for sharing this great story of 2 beautiful quilts.

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  15. What a wonderful story and you did justice to all the handwork. Interesting seeing the two techniques. The ric rac is so cute and adds a sweet finishing touch. I'll have to remember that little trick!
    very sweet photo of the little ones in the gazebo - you have such great photos locations!

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  16. Your quilts are just adorable! Love that you and your friend rescued these blocks and made them useful. I vaguely remember having a quilt with very similar appliques, but have no idea who would have made it--my Mom was not a quilter. These cuties will be loved, for sure!

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  17. What a sweet rescue! I bet the original stitcher is smiling somewhere right now. Nice job!

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  18. Love that big chunky rickrac you used. Isn't it interesting to see what people over the years have used to make the start of a blanket or quilt. I have run across quite a variety of pieces in antique shops where an unknown maker has made do with whatever. Then I suppose they are disappointed in the look and never go all the way to a finish.

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