Go Ahead, Use it!

Home decorator fabric, that is.  Pat Sloan and I talked about using unusual fabrics in quilts on her radio show recently.  Here are some quilts I've made using home dec fabrics.  I started using them because I just love the large prints and textures.  Mine come from thrift stores, but you could use new as well. 

This is the first time I used home dec fabric in a quilt.  The black is an old, faded piece and the border is a thick weave.

The border and sashing are some old curtains from the 1960's or 1970's.  I found them at Goodwill all dusty, but they washed up just fine.

Most of these houses are made of chintz upholstery samples.  The border is a thick brocade.

When I looked for a border for this quilt, this table cloth said, "pick me!"  I had to cut off the 4" long white fringe first. 

This border is another 1970's piece.  Ah, the good old days of "flower power!"

The red print was a large chintz sample, 52 x 52"

The white floral strips are from a remnant I found in Sweden.

Remember, Corduroy Appreciation Day is coming, 11-11-11!  If you plan to post anything corduroy on the big day, let me know.  I'll post links to all of you Corduroy Quilt Enthusiasts!

Wall Quilts

Since I haven't sewn much over the last few weeks, I thought I'd show you a few quilts that I look at every day. They hang around the walls of my house. I used to think that quilts on walls were silly. Aren't quilts made for warmth and comfort? Well, these do warm and comfort me!




This one hangs above the fireplace. It's made of mostly home decorator fabric samples. Everything but the sashing is from thrift stores. The border was the ugliest fabric you can imagine, but it worked on this quilt.




This one greets me at the front door. It includes buttons that I played with as a little girl at my grandmother's house. Before I made quilts, I stitched needlepoint pillows.




This one hangs in the living room, and reminds me that life should not be taken too seriously. It's inspired by Gwen Marston. I also made dolls years ago. This one is about the experience of caring for my baby son. Remember "diaper brain?"

Crumb quilt

The date today, 10-10-10, is just too good to go without a post. So here's the quilt I've been throwing on my lap lately. All scraps and some leftover 9 patches.

I chain-pieced scraps together, 2 + 2, then 4 + 4, then 8 + 8, until I got to about 18". Then cut strips in 1.5, 2.5, and 4.5 widths by 18" long. When I got tired of making the strips, they magically all fit together! The border is cut from an old shirt.

Play Houses

Thanks to Victoria, I've been playing with my scraps for the last month. Here's what they became, a two-sided wall quilt.



I pulled pieces randomly from my scrap bin, and enjoyed what the "scrap fairy" chose.



One psychological theory says that when a house shows up in a dream, it represents the inner psyche of the dreamer. Hmm.