I Just Couldn't Leave Well Enough Alone...

Two things led to this quilt, the project I had completed for friends Holly and Denis (A House Warming Quilt) and my most recent quilt repair project post (What's Old is New Again Part 1 / Part 2).  The reason that these lead me to this project as they were both Ohio Star block quilts.  I had confessed my fear and hatred of the Ohio Star block within the first post and then there I was, faced with a quilt containing the same block.  Although in the repair project I was not actually re-creating the Ohio Square it was a reminder that not only did I find the piecing of an Ohio Star block tedious, but I was really bad at it.  The portion of the block that I didn't care for was the flying geese.. All those geese.. they are boring and hardly ever came out correct and even due to the need to sew them on the bias which is the way that they are traditionally assembled.  I just flat out stunk at making them and that made me cranky about the whole block as there are 4 flying geese in every Ohio Star block.

Today I can honestly say, that was then and this is now.   In between those two projects I found, on another quilter's blog, the best shortcut process for creating flying geese that I've ever seen on a site that I frequently visit called 'Connecting Threads'.  To follow the process of theirs that I have used to learn how to create flying geese easily and accurately check out this link.

 That tutorial has made a HUGE difference.  Within the Ohio Square block the accuracy overall I believe is largely determined by how well you can create the flying geese and with this procedure I was able to make a much more accurate and professional looking quilt block.  In this photo an example of one of my finished Ohio Square blocks and a stack of very accurate flying geese that I had put together using this method.  It was, in fact, such a quick method that I had all the flying geese for this project pieced together in one evening of sewing, less than 4 hours.

I've also used this project as a way to practice my mitered boarders.  On a lot of projects I simply use interrupted boarders which I find to look fine but leave a bit to be desired when you're looking for a clean, professional looking result.  Mitered boarders simply add a detail to a quilt that looks like you've taken a bit of extra care in its preparation.

This photo also shows a bit of the quilting on this item as well.  The style of quilting is rather hap-hazard .. just meandering stitching around the whole project in a color thread that coordinates with the green fabrics and shows as a  bit of relief on the lighter color.  Bobbin color coordinated with the back of the quilt, and with the back being a paisley print that matched the inside boarder, a meander stitch faded in nicely.

The finished project...

What's Old is New Again... Part 2

Well, after a long slow project of putting this quilt back together the project is complete.  I'm extremely happy with the repair of the torn seams and with the fact that I was able to preserve all the pieces of this project, quilt top, back and binding.

(If you missed it, check out Part 1of this post... )

As I noted in my previous post, there were a number of things about this quilt that I had repaired.  However, one thing I wanted to make certain to try to retain is the charm and home made feeling of this quilt.  One thing that I sometimes like to remind people of is that "home-made" doesn't always mean a flawless result, but it does have it's own charm and appeal.  Those of us with children know this to be especially true.  When we are handed a picture or card made by our children and stand there looking at it, pausing because we can't really tell what they've drawn on the paper... but we love it just the same.  To then have them excitedly explain.. "here's you..and here's me.. and we're holding hands.. "  it's charming and much more valuable to us than any professional painting or piece of art work.  We don't have to dig very deep to know why those types of gifts touch us.. it's their sentiment pulled together by effort and emotion that goes into it that we find appealing.  A tangible example of someone's feelings for us scribbled down on the paper or sewn into a quilt.  That's what I had been handed with this project, someone's gift of the creative expression of their feelings for this couple, this family sewn together with fabric and thread.  I took preserving that expression very seriously with this repair.

Here are only a few photos of the finished repair project.  I, unfortunately, forgot to get a larger photo of the entire quilt put together, but from these you can see specific parts of the quilt in detail; the quilting that didn't exist before (as it was a tied quilt), the binding that I luckily was able to preserve, the loft (in the folded up view) and lastly the ties.  I had decided that although this is a quilted project and technically does not need to be tied, I liked the ribbons.. it added charm.. so the Ohio Square pieced blocks got re-tied as a last step to call the project completed.
 

 Now that this repair is complete.. you know I wouldn't be able to leave well enough alone...