Friendship and the Antique Wedding Sampler Quilt

It's been almost a year since Paula and I struck up an online friendship. We have very similar tastes when it comes to fabric, quilt styles/designs, cats and food! Paula found me via my blog and after corresponding about various projects we were working on Paula asked if I would be interested in working together on a project and I thought it was a fine idea. She had previously mentioned that she had made four blocks from the Antique Wedding Sampler quilt designed by Di Ford Hall, a quilt that I admired greatly. The pattern is in Di's first book, Primarily Quilts. Each of the quilts in the book is inspired by antique quilts.

I believe that the quilt that inspired Di Ford's Antique Wedding Sampler is a Quaker quilt made by Charlotte Gillingham c 1842-1843. It is part of the Philadelphia Museum of Art's collection. You can read more about the original at Quaker Quilt History.

I had seen the Antique Wedding Sampler quilts made by Carole of Wheels on the Warrandyte Bus and the G'nT Sisters. Their blocks and quilts are very inspirational and exciting. Carole had assured me that the blocks were very doable.

Paula wasn't happy with her first four blocks so I suggested that she address her concerns with those blocks and while she was doing that I would make the first four blocks. Thereafter we would work on two blocks a month. We figured two blocks a month was manageable and we would be able to support and encourage each other and more importantly there would somebody with whom we could problem solve. There are twenty five blocks in the quilt and as it turned out we decided that when we both completed our two blocks we would move on to the next two. While the blocks did present some challenges, they were not as difficult as I had originally thought.

Over the next little while I plan to share our 12" blocks with you. Without further ado here are the first two blocks. I'll discuss some of the methods we used and areas where you can get creative!

Block 1 - The compass looks difficult but we English paper pieced it and then appliqued it to the background. My points are a little bit wobbly (I can live with that) whereas Paula's are perfect! The motifs in the corners are done in the broderie perse method of applique. I chose to applique a butterfly in the middle of my block and Paula chose a lovely circle print.

UPDATE #1: I posted a couple tips on constructing the compass and sewing the broderie perse flowers in the corners. You can find them here.

UPDATE #2: I just discovered that I posted versions of Paula's first two blocks which she later changed. In block 1 she replace the broderie perse in the corners and block 2 was remade. Notice that she substituted a hexagon rosette for the tiny 8 point star that the pattern called for! I've updated the post with both revised blocks.

Karen's block 1

Paula's block 1 (first version)

Paula's block 1 (final version)

Block 2 - This was a simple pieced block with some traditional applique in the corners. The centre of the block called for a tiny star which I English paper pieced and then appliqued in position. I thought it needed a little pizzazz so I appliqued a little circle in the centre. Note that it is the same fabric I used for the circles in the north-south-east-west positions in block 1. Paula didn't relish the idea of making the tiny little star so instead she fussy cut a beautiful birds and flowers piece of fabric for the centre.

 Karen's block 2

Paula's block 2

Paula's block 2 (remade)

Next time I post I'll share blocks 3 and 4.  Until then, happy sewing!

Karen H

Road 66 - the second row

I had a lovely comment from Katie. She wrote "I noticed some half hexagons along the upper edge. I assume that the tails are left out as in diamond construction. But how do you keep the longer edge tucked under. Mine always wants to pop out. Is there a trick to this?" I was unable to email my answer because Katie is a no-reply blogger. This simply means her email address isn't linked to her blogger profile. For those of you who are new to blogging it also means that if you enter contests or giveaways by leaving a comment, you won't be entered because there is no way to contact you should you win. If you are looking to fix this there was an excellent tutorial on Quiltville's Quips & Snips. But I digress! Katie is asking about the construction of my Road 66 quilt which is named after the quilt in Di Ford's book Primarily Quilts.

The answer to Katie's question is that the tails are sticking out of the half hexagons (inside the red circles) for two reasons: the first is the shape of the paper and the second is to accommodate the border that will be added. The half hexagon has a "diamond" point and that is a sharp angle (30 degrees) and the tail is created because the point is narrower than the seam allowance This is not the case with a hexagon which is a 60 degree angle which is wider than the seam allowance. I could have basted my diamond and half hexagons so that all of the seam allowances are folded in such a way that there are no tails.

I wrote about that basting method here. The diamond would look like this from the right side. Notice there are no tails.

This is what it would look like from the wrong side. I generally use this method because it gives me a sharp point which makes joining the pieces much easier. Having to deal with that tail and move it out of the way is fiddly work so if the seam allowances are neatly folded in they aren't a problem.

However, I've left the tails when I prepped the diamonds and half hexagons of my Road 66 quilt because I want a straight outside edge on my quilt so that I can add two borders, one narrow and one wide. When I remove the papers and fold out the seam allowance I'll have a nice straight edge to which I can attach my borders. If the seam allowance are tuck away neatly on the wrong side as in the pictures above I run the risk of catching the edge of the fabric so that there is a little pucker and the seam allowance won't open properly.

So row 2 of my quilt is now stitched and ready to be added to row 1. Three more rows to go and I still have to make filler half hexagons for the top edge! Sew, sew, sew!

So one final comment: I reply to every comment left on my blog although as of late I've been slow in replying due to other commitments. However, if you don't hear back from me it means you are a no-reply blogger. Unless you update your profile or send me your email address I will have no way to contact you. Rest assured I do read and appreciate every comment left!

That is it for today; until I post again, happy sewing!
Karen H