Poppy Overshot Draft

Mystery Red Flower Overshot

Photo from The National Museum of Australia.   This weaving is attributed to Effie Kyprios.

 

Mystery Red Coverlet

I saw this coverlet on eBay, but could not identify the draft.  The seller said it was whig rose, which I knew was not accurate.   The price on it was quite expensive for a vintage revival (not antique) coverlet, so I thought I could make one for much less -- But due to the trouble in finding the draft, I put in an offer just so I could study it and maybe try to work out the draft.  We'll see if the seller goes for it ...

I was so enthralled by this overshot pattern, that I poured through all my overshot / coverlet reference books in search of the draft:

• The Coverlet Book Early American Handwoven Coverlets 2 Volume Set by Helene Bress
• Frances L. Goodrich’s Coverlet and Counterpane Drafts
• Frances L. Goodrich's Brown Book of Weaving Drafts  
• American Woven Coverlets by Carol Strickler
• A Handweaver's Pattern Book by Maguerite Davison [The Green Book]
• The Handweaver's Pattern Directory by Anne Dixon

But to no avail!  I didn't find anything that matched the flower motif instead of wheels.

I used a Google Image search to see if it turned up anywhere else on the internet, and yes, there was a museum in Australia that had an "Effie Coverlet" made by a young Greek woman in the 1940s.  She was only 17 when she made it.  

It's also listed in the out-of-print book, Keep Me Warm One Night (p.175). It's listed as coming from Greece (See the Effie note above).   Not all overshot hails from America!

I finally resorted to crowd-sourcing and posted it to a few Facebook weaving groups.  At first, I got a fair number of responses--People wanted to help, but most answers were not that useful, leading to similar, but not the draft I was looking for.  Some were not even close.  Some people suggested that I draft it out myself -- Unfortunately, I don't have those skills--yet.    

Someone even suggested this book -- which is now on my wish list as yet another reference book for weaving drafts.   ;-)

By the next morning, Bill Crawford and Robyn Spady (A Few of My Favorite Things blog) identified this pattern as "Poppy" on the 4-Shaft Weaving Facebook group.  Mystery Solved!

Bill Crawford said that he'd designed Poppy for Veteran's Day, and made a table runner out of it.

Robyn Spady and Bill Crawford provided versions of the draft above. 

This is on my list to make a coverlet someday!  I might need to put in a new order for yarn -- Maritime Fibers have singles dyed in deep and luscious colors.  Maybe red or dark maroon or even light blue?

Red Poppy Coverlet [Purchased]

 

I purchased this beautiful Red Poppy Coverlet on eBay recently.  

 

IIt was priced so high, I thought I could make one for less, but soon discovered that the draft was not easy to find [That adventure of discovery will be in a separate post.] 

 

As soon as I gave up the ghost on finding the draft, I was resigned to study it and figure it out myself.  So I made an offer that was much lower that the seller had listed.  I didn't think they would take it -- but they did!

 

At about that moment, the pattern and draft had also been identified on one of the Weaving FB Groups.

Jackpot!

 

I do intend to make one like this -- but maybe in blue since I now have a red one in my collection. 

It looks like one of the Goodwin Guild coverlets from the last century.

The listing says it is 1 whole cloth, so made on a much larger loom than someone would have at home. 

 

 

Raspberry & Cream Manx Log Cabin Quilt is Complete!

The Red Manx Quilt is finished!

This quilt came together quickly--in just a few months!  Because it's a quilt-as-you-go (QAYG), the quilting part is all done once you sew the blocks together.  

 

Joining Manx Quilt Blocks - QAYG Method 

Once I had all the  Manx quilt blocks made, and laid out in order, I was looking for a tutorial to show how to put them all together by machine vs. hand sewing which is the traditional method.

Fortunately, Tim Totten recently put out a new video explaining this step.  He's the one who showed me how to sew the blocks by machine in the first place.   

I did not add batting to my blocks, so you can ignore that part. 

I decided to join the backs first, and then the fronts with some top stitching, but ironically, the back came out looking "cleaner" and tidier.   

 

Here's a shot of the back.  I was using an old sheet to cut the blocks for the backs.  I was 5 blocks short, and had to use something else.  Because there is no batting, you can almost see the log cabins on the front through the old sheet backing.

Because it has no batting, it can be considered a light summer quilt. 

 

 

Here's a detail shot of the back.  Because of the way I joined the blocks, it actually looks better on the back than it does the front.  I might do it the other way around next time with the purple one ... 

You can also see the QAYG stitching when adding the logs, row by row. 

Layouts for the Raspberry Manx Log Cabin Quilt

The winner!

I made as many blocks as were possible from the jelly rolls I had for the raspberry and creme Manx log cabin quilt.  33 11-inch blocks.  I had to order another jelly roll of the creme batiks as I ran out of the raspberry sooner than later.  I think I made 6 more blocks before I ran out of the raspberry.  I've been working up at least 2 blocks / day for the last few weeks.  Steady progress and now I'm done with that stage.

This week, I was auditioning layouts for  this quilt.  How will I sew it together? [That's a whole other technique that I will have to figure out ...]

I started to lay them out, and there was a clear winner [at the top of the page].

Here are the "also rans":

 

Although I like this general layout, it's too long and narrow to be useful.  Because Manx blocks are already paired with a backing fabric and essentially quilted as you go, it would be awkward to add borders to fill in the space as with almost any other quilt.  We'll see though --  Maybe I can "shave off" the top and bottom rows and apply them to the sides?   

 

This was the first layout.  It reminded me of watermelon slices.  Needs a little green!  

No-- wait!  that was a different quilt!

 

  

Another option.  Kinda reminds me of toast slices.

  

Here is another square-within-a-square option.  But I didn't have enough blocks to make it even and centered.  So I guess I accentuated the short-coming to arrive at the winner [See the top of this post.]

What's your favorite Log Cabin layout? 

Raspberry Cordial Quilt with it's New Owner

Kellee opening the Raspberry Cordial Quilt

I saw my old library manager and colleague last week.  We've been through so much in the last 11 years!  Now that we've come to the end of this road, I wanted to give her a quilt to celebrate our retirements.

She was quite happy with the quilt.  I know she likes red -- You can see it elsewhere in the picture.  Although I made this one quite a while ago, it was the only red quilt I had to give away. 

 

Don't you just love the look of surprise when someone opens up a gifted quilt?  ;-)  

Scrappy Flying Geese and Pinwheel Borders for the Caledonia Calling Quilt Top

There were so many cut-off triangles from the  Caledonia Calling Quilt that I could not throw them on the scrap pile or toss them, so I decided to use at least some of them in the border ...

 

So I worked up some crumby flying geese blocks.  These can be frustrating and varying sizes.  I finally worked up a paper-piecing template to help make them more uniform.

 

 

Along with that, I also cut some background fabric so that there would be enough to cover those spaces.   The sizes that worked:

• 5 inch square cut on the diagonal   
• 4 x 7 inch rectangle

It seemed like there was still a lot of cut-offs from this technique as well, but it did make the process go much faster, and less frustration piecing bits together to make them fit. 

 

With the remainder, I made up some pinwheel blocks.  No template necessary for these.

 This is how the final quilt top worked out.  Lovely!

Caledonia Calling: Green Scrappy Lattice Quilt Top

 

 Caledonia : Green Scrappy Lattice Quilt Top

I started this quilt back in February / March, with thoughts of Scotland in my mind.  Ahhhh! 

 

 

Green Scrappy Lattice Quilt blocks laid out on the design wall.    This is not quite the finished layout, but getting closer!

It may still change before settling on a final layout, but we're getting there ...  From this smaller picture, I can see that too many of the plaids are lined up on the diagonal.  I'll have to mix those in a little better now, too.  

 

How the light and dark green blocks came together. 

A simple solution for the corner blocks.

 

Donna Jordan has a tutorial for how to make this quilt with scraps [See video linked below ...].    

I used a couple of green jelly rolls from Nana's Creations on Etsy, because I liked the combination of greens and textures she put together.   

 

Donna Jordan recommends using printer paper as a paper piecing template, cut to an 8-1/2 inch square.

I made strip sets out of the jelly roll strips (6 strips), and then subcut them into 6 inch blocks laid diagonally on the paper.  Then you can fill in the corners with whatever you like that contrasts.    

 

The next step is to iron the blocks flat, and then trip off anything that goes beyond the paper. 

 

I have lots of those triangles trimmed from the corners -- so I worked them into a border ...  flying geese and pin wheels.

Then I had to tear off all the backing paper.  That was easier than I thought it would be because the stitch length was shorter than usual and did a nice job of perforating the paper.  This was suitable work for one of my Quilt Ladies groups where you have to bring handwork while you chat with the Ladies. 

  

Once the blocks were all ready to go, they went up on the design wall to audition placement for the final layout.  This was the initial trial run ...  I was not so impressed with it in this first go round with the bright greens on one end and the dark greens on the other.  They needed to be better integrated ...

  My young artist friend Aidin came to visit and he gave me a helpful design consult.

 

 

 

Detail shot of the pin wheel border, made from all those cut-off corner triangles.  I didn't have enough to go the whole border, but I think the asymmetry works here. 

Detail shot of the flying geese border blocks, made from cut-off triangles.  I just couldn't bear to throw those away!
 

I am very happy with the way this quilt turned out. ;-) 

 

 Donna Jordan's Easy Tutorial for Scrappy Lattice Quilt.

 Dougie MacLean singing Caledonia.