A New Project

I have not made a single quilting or applique stitch since early October 2010. goodness knows I have a few unfinished projects that would possibly benefit from my close attention. However, when Gail Chalker invited me to join a small group of women, both American and Australian who were planning to reproduce a lovely vintage quilt made by Aunty Green I simply could not say no. The plan is to gather next year at Baltimore on the Prairie in Omaha NE. with a finished quilt. It was probably a foolish decision considering my families current situation, but nevertheless I said yes. Why not? The first thing I did was to head for Kinkos as I am the American distributor of the pattern copies which arrive by mail. I make full size copies for the group here. For myself, I make a copy thirty percent smaller than the original. I am trying to wean myself off making large quilts. I have so many quilts I want to make. The above quilt is a reproduction of the original.


I have a feeling that you are wondering why there is a photo of a platter right in the middle of a discussion about quilt making. Well, I just wanted to share that if, like me, you sometimes have issues with drawing the perfect patterns,there is almost always a way. I spend a lot of time entering through the back door. I have to come up with ways to make something work. In this case I needed to have an oval, so I decided to draft my own. Well, that did not work. I tried several approaches to no avail. So..., I woke one morning thinking about the various platters I own. I should come clean here and share that there is a several generation gene related to the collecting of dishes, old and new. So when I could not make an oval I was proud of without help, I thought of the platters I own. Some were too big some too small. I chose this one, too tall but exactly right width wise. So traced around each end and joined the ends by extending the lines. The other problem was in drawing and placement of the leaves on that oval. I finally realized that if I divided the oval into four sections, it would be easier to space elements. I do want to point out that there are 96 leaves.


This is my drawing. As you can see in the photograph above this is only the beginning of the quilt. I am already worrying about the next inside border. I am not sure I will be able to draft that chain. Ideas? I would love it if you would share some of your own solutions to problems that you have encountered. In the meantime, I will begin my applique journey with this great quilt.