Vibrant Squares
Last Tuesday I rode with Jim to do errands which took us to South Fork.
We made the usual rounds of discount grocery stores, including Sunny Valley for soft ice cream which we ate in the car with the A/C running.
We stopped at Misty Mountain, an emporium filled with the best of non-electric kitchen gadgets, useful items for simple country living, sewing notions.
We were looking for 'fly stickers'--those nasty lengths of sticky ribbon which uncurl from a cardboard cylinder. They are the most efficient way we've found of dealing with the fruit flies and similar pests which come inside during the summer.
Misty Mountain also stocks bolts of the polyester [no iron!] dress fabrics, printed to look like old-fashioned calicos; quilt batting can be purchased by the yard, as can extra wide fabric designed for quilt backings [called 'lining' locally.]
Along a side wall toward the rear of the store is a gallery of quilts, most newly made and hand-quilted, a few vintage, as well as smaller pieces made of simple 'patches' and tied rather than quilted.
I enjoy taking a few minutes to view the quilts.
The display had been changed since I was in the store about a month ago.
The offerings this time had a distinctly more modern flair in terms of colorways and styles.
I share several photos here for those quilt makers and quilt lovers amongst my readers.
This quilt features groups of 'shapes' all in shades of subtly patterned indigo blues.
This one is definitely 'scrappy' with bright prints and solid colors.
More traditional; a beautiful applique with large white areas to display tiny stitches.
Heirloom quality.
Another colorful scrappy, meticulously pieced.
This one is a vintage 'Grandmother's Flower Garden'.
This one immediately caught my attention as most unusual for the Amish/Mennonite women to be making. It is a larger scale of the shapes in the scrappier version above.
The fabrics are all subtly mottled 'blenders.'
Lastly, another meticulously crafted applique.
Note the intricate quilting.
A local woman is the designer of many of the quilts, creating the patterns for both piecing and hand quilting.
You can view her designs on her Facebook page: Sunbonnet Quilts.
My goodness - that lady must sit and sew round the clock! Lovely quilts - some a little bright for my eye but I am sure that they appeal and sell. The appliques beautifully done too, and lovely quilting.
ReplyDeleteTalking of quilting, one of the things that annoys me on Kate's LHH videos are her stab stitching the quilts with a gigantic needle and big stitches. I alwas aim at something more subtle than two stitches an inch!!
Thank you for sharing.
Jennie; I don't think Nacki Eads of Sunbonnet Quilts does much actual sewing. She started as a collector and seller of antique quilts before moving to the area. I believe she designs the patterns and stencils for the hand quilting.
DeleteI have tried so-called 'big stitch quilting' but much smaller stitches than Kate's 'stabbing!' My hand quilting is far from heirloom quality, but not impossible. I'm a 'piecer' not a hand quilter!
This recent display of quilts at Misty Mountain astonished me with the wild colors!
Are they hand quilted or machine quilted. It is fascinating to watch a machine quilt, they are a bit like the old knitting machines but with a computer add on. Can you watch 'The Last Homely House' in America? Kate is a very enthusiastic patchworker. Also her daughter-in-law has a video outlet. Blackthorn Cottage, where she grows flowers in great abundance.
ReplyDeleteThese quilts are all meticulously hand quilted by local Amish and Mennonite women. When I worked at the quilt shop in Wyoming there were several women who had long-arm machines and did custom work. My niece has one. I've had a few quilts finished by those who use a computer program--they produce a variety of all-over patterns. A cousin of Jim's does free-hand art quilting which is lovely. Most of the quilts I'm still making are 'scrap' or utility quilts. I'm as careful with my colors and piecing but I have them finished by a local woman who has only one free-hand loopy pattern.
DeleteThelma: I do watch Kate and Anna--I enjoy them. I'm much more of a detail person than Kate. I think that Anna is probably more careful with anything she attempts.
DeleteThese are beautiful! My grandmother quilted and had a large frame she would lower from the ceiling.
ReplyDeleteMichelle; If you are ever in the S. Fork Amish/Mennonite area I think you'd enjoy stopping at Misty Mountain. The quilt display changes fairly frequently and the aisles of kitchen gadgets are tempting.
DeleteI have read of the quilting frames lowered from the ceiling but have never seen one.