Author: jennifer

Earlier this week I shared my vintage Friendship Hexagon quilt, with a blue and white color scheme that makes me want to shout for joy.  Today I’m back with another vintage quilt, and this one’s full of color.  If you know me, you’re not surprised that it’s a lone star.  They’re pretty popular here at Hopeful Homemaker.  This lovely vintage lone star quilt does not disappoint!  It’s full of bright vintage color.

I found this quilt on ebay a couple of years ago.  You know those moments when you spot something and can’t look away?  Or find yourself thinking about it much later?  This vintage lone star quilt was like that for me.  I mean, look at that color!

I collect antique Thanksgiving postcards which mostly date between 1900-1910.  In fact, I ought to share a few more of them sometime.  Anyway, something that’s endlessly fascinating to me about most of them is the combination of patriotic colors with an autumn color scheme.  These two color stories are rarely combined today but 120 years ago, it appears to have been the Thanksgiving season colors.  Rich reds, oranges, yellows and browns framed by red, white and blue.

I see some of that in this quilt, and I believe it’s one reason why I couldn’t stop thinking about it.  Plus, that bright pink!  It has kind of a 70’s vibe to it, and cold possibly have been made for the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.  Who knows?  Why did the maker select these colors? Perhaps she was like me and just thought it was cool to combine it all.

When I see hand quilting and hand piecing in these vintage quilts I marvel at the hours it must have taken to finish.  This quilt features chevron quilting in the red, white and blue background stripes.  Truly, I like it all.

It’s such a lovely star.  So often when we make quilts, we want them to look like the others we’ve seen.  Interestingly, this one appealed to me because it’s different.  It reminds me to keep exploring, seeking new combinations.  I appreciate how unique it is.  I’ve never seen another quite like it.

Unfortunately it’s muslin on the back, which is not going to age well.  I didn’t know that when I bought it, yet it’s still a treasure.  That bright yellow binding is really fun.

Overall, I smile when I see this vintage lone star quilt.  I’m lucky to have found it.  (I guess I did end up finding my own lucky lone star quilt, even though I already made my own.)

I stopped at a random yard sale recently where I found a vintage treasure for just five dollars.  It got me thinking about how much I love old things.  Our home is a collection of new and old, with most of my favorite furniture found at thrift stores or Colorado yard sales.  I have a few vintage/antique quilts hanging on quilt ladders around my house.  One of them is my vintage sailboat quilt, which I still love and display.  I thought I’d spotlight two more favorite vintage quilts this week.  So let’s be clear about this:  this is NOT my work!  Here is my lovely Vintage Friendship Hexagon Quilt.

it features a repeating hexagon block.  I found a drawing of the block in Barbara Brackman’s Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Blocks, where several names are attributed.  Some are: hexagonal star, Texas star, hexagon stars, Dolly Madison’s star, and Star Garden.  I liked Friendship Hexagon, so that’s what I’m calling it.

Crisp blue and white just make my heart sing.  These colors are still vibrant and clear, and the quilt is in good condition, with the exception of a lone yellow stain.  I forgot how large this one is, so perhaps I should give it a turn on a bed sometime soon.

Who made it?  Did she love blue like I do?  Was it a gift for a loved one?  I enjoy wondering about the makers of these treasures.  The hand quilting is beautifully done and still holding the quilt together.

I realize now that these colors are similar to my recent reworking of my Anthem quilt.  It’s a color scheme I’m excited about right now.

This vintage friendship hexagon quilt inspires me to get sewing!  I am grateful for the enduring work of makers who precede me.  Grateful for their determination to make beautiful things even when life was hard.  Inspired by their mastery and attention to detail.  We stand on the shoulders of those who went before us.  I hope we honor their legacy as we create!

While temperatures remain around 100 degrees here, summer is winding down.  Next week my children go back to school, and this morning we sent our son off to Mexico on a two year mission.  I feel so many emotions but I’m trying to jump on the joy train.  Life is good and we are blessed!  And today I’m sharing a new quilt top.  I’m calling it “Summer Afternoon Lone Star”.

This top began in a Lone Star tree skirt class I taught in 2022, which I sewed into an octagon and set aside.  I decided to finish the top by taking an approach similar to my Oxymoron quilt top, so I started auditioning fabrics for borders.

You see, I tend to pause a project and store it with the fabric pull I made for the entire quilt.  Tired of the pile, I wanted to finish it up.  Surprisingly, only one of the fabrics I’d set aside ended up in the quilt.  It’s that skinny 1 inch border in a lovely blue.  I had barely enough to make it work.

The second blue border is another Anna Maria Horner print, actually a smaller version of the large print I used for the scallop applique in Oxymoron.  It was an unplanned choice, and made the cut because I liked the blue.  It’s followed by a bright orange vintage print with amazing texture.  I bought it at a vintage market earlier in the year, and it’s almost neon orange – so much brighter than in the photos.

I love Nathalie Lete’s green print used on the last wide border.  Saved for something special, I finally took a deep breath and just cut it.  Better to use than to store, right?  Another thing I’m working on!

It’s been a while since I hung a quilt top from the cherry tree.  Our dear old tree has had a rough summer.  I’ll share more later, but it’s been hard on my heart.  I left the summer afternoon lone star hanging while I wandered around our vegetable garden to see what’s growing.  At one point I turned and noticed the quilt top from the back. Sweetly pastel, I snapped a photo.

 

Using that last large border makes my summer afternoon lone star a larger quilt than usual – a little over 80″ square.  Now to piece a backing!  I do love how colorful it is – a pretty summer palette.  No more fabric pile for this one!  I’m excited to get it quilted.