Turkey Red Americana Star Coverlet

 

I was intrigued by this coverlet.  I have not seen any others quite like this one.  It looks like it could be a quilt by the design, though it's clearly woven.  Although parts are in rough shape, I still bought it.  Another one I wanted to study up close and personal. 

Here's the flip side, where the white is more prominent.  

This side shows some wear, but it's still so pleasing! 

 

Here's a detail of the front and back (opposite) sides for comparison.

 

 

It has an interesting texture, too.  I have not seen this texture in the overshot coverlets. 

 

 

Turkey Red refers to the color.  In olden times, Turkey (the country, not the bird) made a particular red dye that was known as Turkey Red.  

Here it is currently on display in the Loom Room, with some other lovelies.
 

Nordic Star Table Runner

 

Nordic Star Table Runner  - Free Pattern from The Crafty Quilter 

The Nordic Star Table Runner is complete!  I started this at Quilt Camp back in October, and finished it this week--just in time for the Holidays!

Nordic Star Table Runner  - Free Pattern from The Crafty Quilter 

The pattern is actually quite simple.  The stars and points are all half-square triangles.

It's quilted with the walking foot - straight lines -- The last thing I did before the walking foot fell off my machine.  It looks like the threads in the screw hole that attaches all the feet to the machine got stripped.   I took it into the shop for a few small repairs at All Sew.  There's a guy here in Oshkosh who used to service the sewing machines for Oshkosh B'Gosh years ago, so he knows his way around sewing machines.   I'm happy to not have to take it up to Appleton, and then wait 4 months to get it back.  Hopefully, he will be able to fix it.

Stars in My Eyes: Cathedral Windows Wall Quilt Complete

It's finished! 

The beauty of a true scrap quilt like this is that I can look at any of the colored patches and tell you exactly what other project I used that bit of fabric in.  So many memories from a quilted life!  I am pleased-as-punch with the way this turned out!

This is as big as I can comfortably do on my little domestic sewing machine.  The last row of colored patches was the hardest to sew because of the bulk.   That said, once I finished sewing the bias edges on the last block, it was done!  No layering - no binding!  It's done (except for labels and hanging pocket, of course).

I love how the white part looks puckered and "used" as if it's a much older quilt.  Antiqued!

I love the quilted patterning on the back.  Not perfect, but still pleasing.

Here are some tips if you're going to make on of your own:

• After satin stitching the background blocks together, lay out the pieces and audition 2-1/2 inch squares (the colored patches) on the design wall.  When I was happy with the arrangements, I used a safety pin to hold the colored bits in place.  This was "safer" than using straight pins--literally less blood shed.  There is so much twisting and turning to sew down those colored patches that the safety pins made sense! 

• Use a stilletto to hold down the bias edges to get them started under the sewing needle.  Once you get started, those bias edges are easy to manage under the needle.
  

• When it got to be a certain size, it was easier to stitch 2 sides of the colored patches down an entire row, then come back up the other side as a row.  Less twisting and turning that way.

 

If you look at the stars from the side, you can see the puff better.  

What a difference just a teaspoon of stuffing makes! 

• I kept a 1-gallon freezer bag of fluff stuffing nearby for stuffing the blocks.  This was a manageable amount to deal with--esp. since I was only using about a teaspoon of fluff per block.  More than that got too puffy and unmanageable -- In other words, it got too puffy and took up too much space in my work area.   I wound up using an acrylic fluff because it was lighter and fluffier than batting scraps.  It did the job better.
  

It doesn't really feel like it made a dent in my scrap pile, but I know I used about half of the 2-1/2 squares I cut out for this project.  So I guess that's progress.  It used a lot more white background fabric than you'd expect.  It's also heavier and denser than you'd expect.

120 # of white background squares (These started out as 9-1/2 inch squares; Finished at just over 4 inches.

218 # of Stars (colored patches - These are the 2-1/2 in squares.) 

 

I like this one because it shows my husband's feet at the bottom of the screen.

The photos show a very slight difference in the white background fabric.  I used what I had on hand -- Some Avalon muslin purchased for hand-dying -- I bought it without realizing it had a permanent press treatment, which makes it NOT suitable for dying. (I knew about that, but the online listing and description did not mention permanent press. ;-( )   In the photos, it looks like some of the background whites is a little creamier than the other.  This is not nearly so noticeable in person.

Here are the previous posts about this project:

Cathedral Windows Quilt - A New Project and a New Tutorial  (Jan 23, 2023)

Cathedral Windows Revisited (Feb 7, 2023)

Progress on The Cathedral Windows Quilt: 14 Blocks So Far (May 21, 2023)

 

The High Class Low Maintenance Throw: First Project off the Big Loom

This was the getting-to-know-the-new 8-shaft loom project, aka The Big Loom.  Although I only used 4 shafts, it was more than enough for me to get the feel of this new loom.   

Everything went better than I could have hoped!  In fact, I am thrilled with how this came out! 

 

 

Here's a photo of my friend, Janna, trying her hand at weaving for the very first time.

 

This is as far as I could go and still gt a good shed. 

 

This is the view from the back, before I untied the warp strings and pulled the piece off the loom.

This is the first time I did a hem stitch where it seems to have turned out well. 

I trimmed the strings to a uniform 7 inches on this side, and 6-1/2 inches on the front end.  I twisted the fringe by hand over the course of a few nights.  12 twists clockwise, and 6 counter-clockwise.

The kit was from Yarn Barn of Kansas: The High Class Low Maintenance Throw.  I purchased this kit a few years ago, but my old loom was not quite wide enough to do it justice, so it waited until I had a wider loom.  

The yarn is acrylic -- I wasn't too crazy about using acrylic because it stretches.  And so far I've been using all natural fibers (cotton, wool, silk).  But I found out this yarn was very forgiving and easier to work with than some of the other fibers.  Not a single broken string on this project.  It was only a 3 yard warp.  Since the reed was a bit rusty, I also wanted some inexpensive yarn to floss all those "teeth" without worrying about staining the project with rust.

Here are the previous posts about this project:

Getting ready to weave again ... (Sept 9, 2023)

What to do with Rusty Reeds (Sept 8, 2023)