Wednesday, April 3, 2019

Duet OPUS: Nolia and Me

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.






14 comments:

  1. This is such a treasure- what a labor of love! you have one lucky sister!

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    1. Thank you! My sister is very happy with her quilt and that makes it all worthwhile!

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  2. Great save! You certainly honored Nolia and the original quilts. I like how you used the floral border fabric, mixing it in. Beautiful, thanks for sharing!

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    1. Thank you! Yes, I felt like I had hit upon the best idea for that floral border fabric when I decided to sprinkle it in all over the quilt.

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  3. These three re-imagined quilts are nothing short of awesome and amazing. I love each and every one of them. Massive kudos to you for these labors of love.

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    1. THANK YOU! It's wonderful to have your work appreciated and admired!

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  4. Sew glad you have saved all these quilts.

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  5. What a fun tale. So nice you saved those tips!

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    1. Thank you...so much better than committing them to the burn pile!

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  6. Oh what a beautiful quilt you have created out of the two tops, congratulations on an amazing finish.
    Thank you so much for sharing your journey with Nolia's quilt tops.

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  7. What a privilege that must be to get to know a person by her fabrics. This is a stunning quilt! You are a very kind and generous human being. Thank you for sharing these beauties here!

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    1. Thank you, Sujata. It IS fascinating to study another person's quilts and try to understand why they chose to piece their work as they did....each person has their own sensibilities and there is much to be learned from a seasoned piecer! This is one reason I am so intrigued by the Gee's Bend quilters...they create magic out of the commonplace.

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  8. I like the way the big floral peeks in around the blocks -- as though the blocks are lying in a field of flowers.

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