Do you all remember my quilt Inspired by the Past? It’s this quilt.
It was featured in this magazine as the cover quilt.
You can read more about the quilt HERE. I did a tutorial of sorts HERE on how to make the block. This has been a favorite of the quilt I’ve made.
When I met up with blog reader Cindy and her friend recently I stopped at the thrift store in town. I grabbed a few cotton shirts to use for quilts. They were having a sale for $5 for 10 items. Sadly I only found 6 shirts. When I got to the checkout a great gal, Bernadette was at the register. She is a sweetheart and a quilter and blog reader. We often talk quilts if she’s at the thrift store when I go.
Later in the day, this email came for Bernadette:
“Seeing you Friday persuaded me to get this written so I could send it off to you.
Last Fall I started to make squares for the quilt, Vintage quilt from the Past that was featured on the cover of February 22 issue of Better Homes and Gardens American Patchwork and Quilting.
I debated for six months whether I wanted to make the quilt or not. If I committed to making it, the size would be a king for our 55th wedding anniversary. All the blocks or squares would be different and I would make it with all half-square triangles. Not being a fan of flip and stitch, I don’t care to have all those extra HST of a different size and then how to use them. It took me almost an afternoon to lay out and stitch the first block, then I figured out a system to lay out the block and sped up the process. A total of eighty-one blocks are in the quilt. I should have made it nine by ten rows to give more of a drop, but I am fine with it as is. I did put the sashing or border row all around to balance it off.
Before I started the quilt I asked my husband what he thought of the quilt design. He approved it except not the pink. My plan was to use a white fabric with navy pin dots in it. When the top was finished then to decide on a pantograph and backing. A king size takes a lot of fabric, approximately ten yards. I used two white sheets with a strip of fabric that I would also use in the binding. I decided on a rose pattern for the pantograph because you couldn’t get to a 55 anniversary without having a few thorns along the way. I do a two-color binding and machine stitch it all. The measurement is one and three-fourth inches for the contrast and one and a half inch for the outer edge. Sew those together and iron the binding in half to flatten. I start sewing on the back with the contrast facing me as I stitch all around. Turn it over and fold the binding to the top and match the thread to your contrast color sewing it in that one-fourth inch so the stitches blend in. I used red for my contrast and the strip fabric from the back but cut it across to show the colors. The finished size is 105 inches by 107.5 inches.
I ended up messaging Bernadette back and asked if she minded if I shared her quilt with all of you. She was happy to share.
I loved seeing this. I was always curious about how the quilt would look with a different color in place of the pink and now I can see it. I like it. The quilt has a much more modern look to it this way.
GREAT WORK Bernadette. Thanks so much for sharing your quilt with us!!
WOW!!! Gorgeous quilt. Always surprises me how vastly different a quilt can look with different color choices.
Truly wonderful quilt Bernadette, you made your scraps shine!
Happy Anniversary, Bernadette! Thank you for sharing your beautiful quilt! One of my favorite things is how sometimes the star block is in a box—that gave it nice movement and twinkle! I am also intrigued by your two color binding and hope to puzzle that out.
It sounds like Bernadette used the following binding method.
http://www.52quilts.com/2012/05/tuesday-tutorial-susies-magic-binding.html
Happy Anniversary Bernadette! Love your quilt. I wish we could see photos of how you do your binding. Jo- would you help us understand?
It sounds like Bernadette used the following binding method.
http://www.52quilts.com/2012/05/tuesday-tutorial-susies-magic-binding.html
Happy Anniversary Bernadette! Thanks for allowing Jo to share your beautiful quilt. It”s stunning.
I wish Bernadette had described her speedier method for making those blocks! It is just gorgeous.
That is a large beautiful quilt, happy anniversary!
I really enjoy your blog. You do,great work and take on the some odd tops! But so many beautiful things were hanging and that dress did it for me!
Hugs!
Beautiful quilt!! Hugs,
Jo, please tell us about your new job!!! The link doesn’t go anywhere. It’s so exciting, I have been following your blog for years and never guessed this! Congratulations with love and prayers ❤️ .
Jo must have had a computer glitch, it was an old post from May 2020 when she gave up childcare.
It was a scheduling error. You will see the post on the 14th.
It was a scheduling error. You will see the post on the 14th.
Wow, beautiful quilt! So much work and detail. Congratulations Bernadette, on your anniversary!
Great quilt and I love the reason she gave for the rose pantagraph.
thanks for sharing Bernadette’s quilt – king size is BIG
The binding on Bernadette’s beautiful quilt is called a “flange” binding. The link shared by Londa has good instructions, but the web site, from 2012, is only an “http” and not an “https”. This will generate a security warning on some browsers. If this worries you, the second method on this website is for flanged binding, and also has good instructions:
https://quilterscandy.com/flanged-binding/
Someone mentioned in the comments that they wondered what my shortcut was. I found this paper that I used and it worked for me for each block.
12-2 main colors:
4 each of contrast
8 full squares of contrast
4 cornerstones
1 center
I also used the easy angle ruler for the HST’s.