As I was remembering that today is Bird Day, I thought about the lone quilt that was left by my grandmother.
My mother's mom was a seamstress, focusing mostly on clothes. However, she did make at least one quilt. My other grandmother had no interest in sewing, she raised animals - horses, dogs, and bunnies.
I guess I got a little of both - making quilts and "raising" animals.
In any case, the quilt my grandmother left is a bluework quilt.
Turns out that bluework quilts have quite a history.
These quilts were popular in the early 20th century, and were an extension of Redwork quilts.
The quilts were typically done with blue embroidery thread or perle cotton, and the designs were usually outlines of animals, flowers, kitchen items such as teapots and utensils, and famous people.
The background cloth was usually muslin or linen, and stitches were fairly simple - Outline Stitch, Stem Stitch, French Knots, Straight Stitch and possibly even Cross Stitch. Frequently only one color of thread was used.
Many of these quilts survived because they were considered "special" quilts - not used as every day quilts.
The one my grandmother made is shown below. The birds are outlined in a navy blue embroidery thread using a Cross Stitch. The quilt is done on bleached muslin with the blue fabric used as borders around both the blocks and the quilt.
The quilt is machine quilted using a simple cross hatch pattern across the entire quilt - on the diagonal - with the stitches about 1/2 inch apart.
My mom knows very little about the quilt, so we aren't sure where the designs came from. Often patterns were published in women's magazines as incentives for renewing the magazine.
With all of those birds, it seemed like the perfect quilt for Bird Day!
As a Quilt as You Go Project
This looks like a perfect Quilt as You Go project.
First you would stitch the design in the center of a square of muslin or white fabric. Next, add the blue border around the block. Make sure you have enough batting and backing extending beyond the block for the white sashing.
Then layer and quilt the block.
Sew the rows together, adding sashing between each block in the row. Finish the backing on the rows.
Next add strips of white sashing between the rows of blocks. Close the backing after you have added the sashing.
Add the white borders around the outside of the rows. Finally add the blue border around the outside. If you have done your planning right, you will have enough extra batting and backing on the outside blocks to extend to the edge of the blue border.
If you are short, you can add fabric to the backing and then piece your batting.
The binding on this quilt is a narrow 1/4 inch white muslin binding. You could use that or make it a little wider for ease in adding it to finish your quilt.
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Click on the picture of the quilt |
Happy Quilting!
Penny Halgren
Master Quilter
