The third quilt made from hand-pieced tops given to me by my sister who had them on her ‘burn pile’ during a cleaning frenzy until I intercepted that disastrous plan and asked her to send them to me....is this one which I call “Duet Opus: Nolia and Me.”
After my sister saw the first two quilts I made from her deceased mother-in-law's tops, she asked me to make her and her husband a big one for their queen bed. I was happy to do this and she sent me two other colorful tops that she had hung onto after I encouraged her to throw NONE of these tops away.
This big quilt - about 96 x 96 inches - is made from these two original tops.....
As usual, I de-constructed the most colorful and interesting blocks....discarding fabrics that were too slippery, heavy, thin, or otherwise undesirable.....and added in fabrics from my own collection. You will notice the big patches of solid patches on the left in the first top ....also the bedspread strip at the bottom.....and there are two blocks with 'cheater fabric' in the second top.
I decided to use the tropical floral borders on the top and bottom of the second top as a unifying element and intersperse it throughout the many blocks of the final top.
After organizing and re-piecing blocks from both tops, I found I still needed a bit more length on one end so I pieced a row of eight smaller log cabin blocks from mostly my own fabrics.
I machine quilted this top in two half pieces and one smaller piece containing the end blocks - simple straight lines with the help of masking tape - and then I joined them in the middle, cutting away excess batting and fabric and hand stitching the backing 'join’ together....then finishing the front with the straight quilting lines. Worked like a charm although it took some effort to manipulate this heavy piece through my simple domestic machine. Where there’s a will, there’s a way! I decided I was going to be the boss of this thing!
Pin basting on the kitchen table....
Machine quilted in straight lines in two separate pieces.....
My trusty Husqvarna Viking machine.......
Here are a few shots of the individual blocks...
Orange double knit in this block....
Red double knit fabric in this block.....
Sharing the quilt with my aunts...
And here is sweet Nolia (1921-2010) at age 77...the hand piecer of the original tops....a woman whom I have never met but with whom I feel a warm kinship and connection because I have had the privilege to work with her fabrics and colors....she certainly had an eye for the joy and beauty in color and she has blessed me richly.
