Got the Blues?

Continuing the discussion from the last post...This is just a small segment of the blues in my collection.  Behind this stack are two more towers of blue, that either I need to give away or good pieces that have been pushed back and forgotten.  More is scattered in other cupboards.  Refolding and purging is for another day. I pulled out a few fabrics for comparison and made a mess.

Here are a few blues that don't play well together, a gray/brown blue, a purple hued blue, a prussian,  a gray blue and an indigo. Different styles, different lines, and different eras.  My suggestion is to have a wide variety  of blues you love and when selecting fabrics for a project, audition them along with each other and with the other pieces for the quilt.  Not all play well together.

I  love Prussian blues almost as much as indigo and these are some of my favorites, but again, not all are created equal, two have a greenish cast. I don' like to get too matchy-matchy, but sometimes the odd fabric will throw the whole look off in blues, more than any in other color family. Frustrating, right? If the project is really scrappy, then you won't have to be as careful. 

One of my favorite quilts, a chintz medallion in one of my favorite fabric combinations, blue and brown. Whose boot is that?  Picture taken a few years and hairstyles ago.

Drum roll please....






Check this out!  Still got the blues????  My dear friend Pat loves to 'play quilts' as she likes to call it.  As seasons change, so does this room.   My first visit to her home was a few years ago when a number of friends and I went to San Antonio to see the Shelburne Quilt Museum exhibit at the San Antonio Museum of Art. Pat invited us over for wine and cheese and this was what awaited us, as we entered her home.  Oh my gosh!  Pat prepared a fabulous spread of treats for our magical evening.  I think we were there in March or April?, so it could have been her spring arrangenment.  Note the sewing ephemera mixed in with the cheeses and fruit.  We all felt as though we had stepped into Country Living magazine.  Delightful! A great memory as timeless as her blue and white quilts...thanks Pat for letting me share this!!!!

 



View from the other end of the room.  Don't you just love this?

Still got the blues????  You bet! 

Blue quilts...a favorite yesterday, today, tomorrow and .forever!

~Betsy





More Blue Quilts

A few more blue quilts.  I love the ageless, clean simplicity of blue and white quilts.  When I started collecting antiques tops and quilts and blocks, I desperately wanted an indigo and white quilt. Just one! My oldest child was still in a stroller and I fell for an Ohio Star.  Did not fall in love with the cost.  Should have made the purchase then, but the practical mom side of me said no.  Regretted it ever since!  Nearly 30 years of regret, considering the price of indigo and white quilts today.  So I reproduce them.

Here is one I absolutely love, hand quilted in utility quilting style.  Stencil and chacoliner, not a compass and pencil, but similar in many ways, to the spirograph designs.  By the way...loved the comments that have come in...funny how many of us had Spirographs!

My Double Nine Patch quilt from History Repeated





Close up of utility quilting. Favorite part...the pumpkin seed design in the corners.
Note the two indigo prints...same value, adds interest.

 

On the bed with an indigo woven coverlet.
Look closely and you can see where I extended the stencil
to create a circle design repeating all over the quilt.

A final blue quilt for today...

Have you noticed how difficult selecting blue fabric can be?  Look at the blues at the quilt shop next time you are in, or go look right now at the blue zone in your fabric collection.  Not all blues are created equal, again that 'spice of life' thing.  Just look and you will see gray blue, green blue, true blue, blues that have a purplish quality, etc and in all shades and tints, and all mixed up!  hmmm...more discussion next time. See you then.

New Year

Happy New year to all!

Only a week into January and the to do list is piling high.  So where to start?  I know I'm not the only one asking this question!
Today I've been rather scattered, not a surprise.  Need to be working on this and that and making lots of notes. Spent some time decorating since Christmas has been put away.  So do you decorate for January? Or go directly to a Valentines Day theme?  I decided to go right to reds and pinks and chocolates.  Got everything placed, took a shower, dressed and pulled out some blue quilts.  Yes, you read correctly, blue.
First picture was to go at the top of the page...the template had other ideas.



a top, some blocks and a little quilt that needs binding



four tops, but one is basted ( been basted for years!)



Then, I found this quilt.
It was a top made by my paternal great grandmother and a great aunt.
30 years ago, I taught myself to quilt by quilting this top.

Can you see the quilting?
I drew the designs with a pencil and compass and made a cardboard template.
Spirograph training....did you have one of those?  I bet mine is still at my parents house.

Back on track...January blues.  Not that cold here in Texas, but exactly where is it really cold?  January is supposed to be cold, in my mind, anyway.  Temperatures have been in the 70's for a high, but today is a little cooler and cloudy, at least it looks like January.
I like blue quilts for January.  Will take more photos for another day.