Monday, February 11, 2008

WHAT ARE YOU THINKING?


This morning as I was snuggling under the covers in bed, not quite wanting to get up yet, listening to the furnace come on and off, on and off, my mind wandered back to the Vintage Quilts magazine I was looking at last night. I was reading the pattern directions for a quilt that instructed you to cut 2-3/8 inch squares. Hundreds of them. Sympathy wells up in me for these wonderful makers of the vintage quilts. Can you even imagine having to cut all those little squares, and then at 2-3/8 inches to boot? Dull scissors, worn cardboard templates, no strip quilting - ugh!

Well, we don't work that way today. So next I am thinking, "How would I convert that measurement? Would I change it to 2-1/4 inches or 2-1/2 inches"? Naturally all the other measurements in the quilt would change accordingly. The end result would be a quilt that is either a little bit smaller or a little bigger. Let's go with bigger, because the vintage quilts are usually on the small side. Ok, this problem is solved!

Now what about the quilt with all those HSTs? No way am I cutting a million squares at 3-1/8 inch and cutting them in half and matching them to another triangle and sewing those bias edges together! I have to convert that quilt so I can use triangle paper or another quick method! Ok, now I really do have to get out of bed and get my calculator and EQ6! Thus begins my day.

Word of warning: Don't ever ask a quilter, "What are you thinking?" Unless of course, you are a quilter!

Photo from McCall's Vintage Quilts, Dec. 2007 - It's great!

20 comments:

Darlene said...

I understand your thinking process! LOL

Sometimes when I'm sitting on the couch watching TV with my DH, he'll look at me and ask what I'm thinking about. Well, it's usually a pattern that I'm either trying to convert the measurements or the pattern calls for yardage I want to use fat quarters. LOL

I'll be watching for your new 'thinking quilt'. :-)

Libby said...

You mean to tell that everyone doesn't just think about fabric, geometric shapes, quilting patterns . . .? What? What in the world do they think about then *s*

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

Lol, I go to bed thinking about patterns and when I wake up and am getting ready for the day, that is again where my mind drifts. Too funny. We are all very one-track minded apparently. :o)

antique quilter said...

I totally understand what your thinking!
had to laugh at this post!
Love this quilt too....
hmmm I think I have some packs of that triangles on a roll 2 1/2 inches....
yes have the fabric collections to do this one too...
hmmmm
another new project from a picture? or an ocean wave quilt that i have been dreaming about!
Kathie

Carol said...

I'm thinking I'll be waiting for you to make this one into a pattern. Love it!

Gail said...

I will be sure to ask what you are thinking when you have finished your calculations and can share your results with us! LOL

Unknown said...

i think it was Mark Twain that said if you wake up in the morning thinking about writing, then you ought to be a writer.
I would think the same thing applies to quilting, wouldn't you?

Jeanne said...

You make perfect sense to me. I love that quilt, too. Is that next on your list of to dos?

Gypsy Quilter said...

I generally cut bigger and trim down to smaller. Of course, we all know that I have trouble following other people's directions! It sure is a yummy pattern.

Mama Spark said...

I have seen one like this on Mary Johnson's blog and just love it. I agree with everyone else here that I don't know what other people think about if it isn't quilt related. On a good day I go to bed thinking about quilts and wake up the same way!

Quilts And Pieces said...

Man that is heavy thinking for so early in the morning. I"m off on a business trip for 2 days, but there is a quilt shop just down the road from my hotel I hear - suppose to have repro's and folk art... so I"m hoping some inspiration strikes for the medallion pattern!

Perry said...

Your thought process sounds perfectly normal to me until the second what am I thinking. At that point, "I ain"t going make it", and I start thinking about another one, lol!

Lindah said...

Your post made me chuckle. Also the comments. We all seem to have the same "disease." Every time I see a quilt or quilt picture, I start mentally dismantling it to see how it is made. My dad was that way with machinery.

Anonymous said...

uhhh, I still make them the oldfahioned way:) That's why I have only made 5 bedquilts; it takes me about 1.5 years to finish one. But it's soooo much more relaxing compared to machinework in spite of the worn out cardboard templates:)

Nana B said...

I can't even think about doing all that hand work. About 10 years ago visiting an elderly aunt she was pencil marking a quilt for hand quilting, she used a cardboard cut out for marking, thank God for pre-printed pantographs. But I am working on a Mariner's Compass, hand piecing using, used Cindy Blackberg's stamp method for marking before cutting and sewing. It is going slow since I much prefer machine piecing. LOL on figuring out the measurements for the quilt.

Nana B said...

After I left that first comment I realized I had seen that quilt pattern before somewhere. I dug through my library and low and behold, Eleanor Burns has it in a book, it is "Birds In The Air"

Lea said...

Yooouhoooo, Marcie, Me, Hand piecing with a cardboard woman, here I am! *LOL*
This quilt is amazingly beautiful and very interesting history behind with.
Will you make this quilt?

Darcie said...

Love your last line!!! It should be printed on a t-shirt!!!

*karendianne. said...

I love what you share here - your thought process. That's personal and neat to learn from.

Thanks!

Also, it reminds me how MUCH I have to learn.

New Quilter Love, *karendianne.