Category: Projects

Some stories weave their way into our hearts, never to leave.  The account of Ruth, in the Bible, is such a story for me.  She inspires me in so many ways.  But it’s the gleaning that twists my heart.  Gleaning in a field means following the harvesters and going through the leftover grains on the ground or the plant in order to obtain food.  It’s literally searching for something of use in the leftovers of life.  How often do we find ourselves dealing with plan B, or even plan X?  Nothing about her life had gone the way she expected, and suddenly she is gleaning in the fields so she and her mother-in-law won’t starve.

There is grit in this.  I could go on and on.  Needless to say, I’ve spent countless hours pondering Ruth gleaning in the fields, and what it means to glean in my life.  So it isn’t surprising that I sketched a quilt block and named it “Gleaned”.  It’s lived in my sketchbook for a year or two, and this summer I finally made time to sew it up.  So, here she is, my Gleaned quilt top!

This Gleaned quilt top is made from scraps.  I went through years of “leftovers” to gather them.  It makes me smile to see decades old fabrics mingling with recent ones.  Some projects gifted me lots of 2.5″ scraps, such as my Arise quilt (pattern here) and Listen quilt (pattern here).

What pulls it all together are the black and white corner pieces.  I turned to Art Gallery Pure Solids for these, and used Crisp Linen and Slate.  Slate is actually a rich, dark gray that reads as a black.  The crisp linen is slightly creamy, but not too much.  Gleaned is my first project with these two colors, and I’m happy with them.  (I already know that I love working with Art Gallery pure solids, which I happily used in my Rainbow Serve Quilt and my Candy Shop Listen Quilt.)

Would you like to start a new scrap quilt?  Good news!  I’m writing the pattern now, and will release it as a free pattern to all newsletter subscribers next week.  And what’s even better?  I’m writing it for two different sized blocks.  I wasn’t ready to be done gleaning scraps, I guess, because I started another version with 1.5″ strips.

I’m off to baste my gleaned quilt top, because this is a quilt I can’t WAIT to snuggle under.  I’m tenderhearted lately, and need a little extra beauty.   Like I said, gleaning.  Always gleaning.

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!