Sunday, February 11, 2007

CIVIL WAR BLOCK EXCHANGE

It seems that I haven't posted any actual quilts for a while, so I thought I would share two that I made a couple years ago from a block exchange. I can't remember how many of us were involved, but we had a nice sized group here locally that I swapped with. The rules were that we use quilt shop quality fabric that was a 19th Century reproduction. This was the first such project I was ever involved in and it is responsible for my head over heels attraction to the Civil War fabrics. It is amazing how many truly ugly fabrics it takes to make a fabulous quilt. The blocks in this quilt are six inch finished. We traded the HSTs and some geese for this project also. When we all got together to exchange blocks, it was a riot! The squeals of delight as we pored over our new stash! So many cool fabrics that I had never seen before. Our local shop here in V.B. (What's Your Stitch) has great repros, but I was amazed at the variety from other sources as well.
We did several block exchanges before I dropped out from exhaustion. I have a couple other quilts in stages of incompletion that I would love to finish this year. That sounds like such a "glass half empty" comment. I should say that I have a couple quilts that I have made quite a bit of progress on. Yes. Much better. I WILL get them out and finish them this year!
The other quilt that I finished from this group exchange is the Lady of the Lake quilt. I loved this one so much that I made extra blocks and I hand quilted it. Hand quilting is something I rarely do on large projects anymore. I love the look of it, but I am slow and I am afraid if I start something big I may never complete it. Between the achy eyes and the achy hands...it slows you down! But this quilt demanded that I hand quilt it, and I am so glad that I did. Again, you can see some strange fabric in this quilt. It is funny, but everyone loves the lime green block at the bottom. It is a weird one. What do you think? Can you pick a favorite block?

17 comments:

Carol said...

Both quilts are wonderful! I love reproduction fabrics...you just can't make a wrong choice with those fabrics.

Elaine Adair said...

Both of these quilts are so luscious - I couldn't pick a favorite. What pleasure to look and compare all the fabrics, to note how they fall next to each other, as you might be snuggling under them.

Marvelous, beautiful quilts!

Sweet P said...

I love the colors in both quilts. The Lade of the Lake is extremely scrumptious.

Granny said...

I always say I don't like civil war fabrics but when I see quilts made from them, I just love them.

Your Lady of the Lake quilt turned out beautiful! I'm going to make one of those soon. Looks like your points all matched up so perfectly! That's what scares me about making one.

Anonymous said...

I like the second from top on the right side, the one with the stripes!

Rebecca

Unknown said...
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Unknown said...

the 2 quilts are simply gorgeous. I think that every quilt ( especially scrap quilts) has to have some "strange" fabrics to make them look interesting.

Anne Ida said...

Big ecstatic sigh!!! I love the Lady of the lake pattern, and your quilt is BEAUTIFUL! I like the other one as well, but the other pattern has a special place in me…

Libby said...

What a terrific exchange to yield such great quilts. I can surely understand the 'need' to hand quilt this one. My fave - the red in the center.

Mary Johnson said...

Marcie, I love both quilts. Nice job.

Jenni said...

I love Repro fabrics too. It's amazing how much colour there is in the quilt - it just shows that Civil War fabrics are not all dull and brown like some people think.

Quilts And Pieces said...

Oh they are both gorgeous! I've always thought about making a lady of lake - it on my someday list to do!

Darlene said...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Shelina said...

Happy Valentine's Day. These are both beautiful quilts. I have many swap blocks that I need to put together too. Sorry, I can't pick a favorite block - I think itis the combination of all these blocks that make them both so lovely.

Elaine Adair said...

Once again, I am back at your blog and am astounded at the difference of the left side of your page vs. the right side of your page. The background blocks on the left appear to be Ducks Foot? but on the right side they look entirely different. It finally dawned on me that the block is the same - it just looks so different when they run together. ( .... and 'regular' folks wonder what we get out of quilting ...!)

Judy said...

Oh that first quilt is the perfect choice for using some of those 5" sq's we are swapping now!! I'll keep it in mind!

Hanne said...

Both the quilts are so lovely. Favourite block - nope - it is the mix that does it :-) BTW - I am partial to the blocks with red in them.