What have I gotten myself into?? Long!

16 years ago

I received a quilt top from my stepfather's "Church Ladies Group" (Yes, they actually call themselves the "Church Ladies").

Sight unseen, (church is in California, and I'm in Texas) I had volunteered to complete this quilt so the Church Ladies could either raffle or auction it in November. This quilt was a donation from an estate sale to the church. Why donated? - it didn't sell, LOL. This is not the quilt's fault, it's actually a pretty good quilt top.

But taking this on may have been a major mistake! The quilt is queen sized, and the first 10" of the top are partially hand quilted. I have to rip that all out, because the top isn't square to the backing, and while the top quilting stitches look good, there are so many puckers on the back that I just can't work with it.

I took it on knowing I might have to rip out some quilting, and my intention was to do a pantograph or all-over meander. But when I opened up the quilt I found it has a very large center panel (36 x 36") surrounded by log cabin blocks, and then by 4 border strips. The log cabins are in shades of hunter green and beige-to-tans.

The panel, which is just plain tan fabric, simply cries out for a feathered wreath, surrounded by cross-hatching! I'm not sure I'm that good yet, LOL.

Either way, the top has clearly been sitting for a year or more, and it is terribly wrinkled, and the batting is all torn and lumpy. That's another reason to take out the hand quilting. It was only basted around the outside edges, and subsequent rough handling has trashed the poly batting.

If it didn't belong to my stepdad's "Church Ladies", I would flat out refuse to do the work.

So I'm thinking of replacing the batting with a nice cotton batting, and then doing a meander all around the center panel, and just making the center panel more formal. Does that sound like it will work? They need this in November, and stitch in the ditch would take one heck of a long time!

I will try to get a photo in the next day or two after I take it apart.

Anyway - any ideas for this center panel would be appreciated. The quilt looks masculine, so I kind of worry about a feathered wreath. But I think it needs some sort of central motif.

mary

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Comments (7)

User
16 years ago
You are truly a good soul, Mary and I applaud you. How about just a diamond grid pattern in the center square? That would be masculine and lots less work than a feathered wreath. You know what they say--no good deed goes unpunished.

Also, ah-hem, I am part of a group of 13 women who have been friends since our kids started T-ball 25 years ago. We get together often for dinner, movies and parties. One of our daughters kiddingly called us Mom's Church Lady friends and it stuck. We now call ourselves the Church Ladies. Not a pillbox hat or pair of white gloves in the crowd, I assure you!

Dianne
lucyh_quilts
16 years ago
Mary,

That quilt sounds wonderful. I can't wait to see a photo of it.

I don't personally think that a feather in the center panel will make it look less masculine myself and I can just picture how lovely it would look described as you did. I think seeing a photo of it would help to visualize what it really needs and maybe others can add their opinions then.

You are a kind soul to take this quilt on and I surely hope that it will be appreciated.

Lucy
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jennifer_in_va
16 years ago
It does sound like a great project! Kuddos to you!

I think either the wreath or simply the cross-hatch quilting would work. But I would love to see a picture just so I can visualize it better!
maryliz
16 years ago
What a mess! But I am sure that you are devoted enough to turn this heap of fabric and ripped batting into another finished quilt.

Since the quilt looks masculine, and most guys tend to like things very simple and unadorned, perhaps it is just fine to meander in the center. Only an artistic person (man or woman) would go ga-ga over a feathered wreath. Most guys would say, "Oh. Does it have some sort of pattern in the center? Never noticed."

The diamonds might also look nice, being relatively simple. Certainly easier than any feathered wreath, if you don't feel up to that yet.

Maybe something I say might lead to another idea. I use a short arm machine to do my machine quilting. When I was just starting out, my first project had a center motif of irregular (on purpose, to hide the occasional whoops) sine waves all over, with an outer border of doubled sine waves, surrounded by zigzags for contrast.

I still use a lot of sine waves when machine quilting. Can't stay in the ditch!

Another quilt I made had an ornate and heavily quilted center determined by the Ohio stars blocks, then for the border I just echoed in a huge, square spiral all the way around, until I got to the edge once and for all. So there were irregularly parallel lines at the border of that quilt.

Keep thinking about it. I'm sure you'll come up with something that looks very professional, even if it is simple.
msmeow
16 years ago
Mary, what about adding some kind of an applique to the center panel? Maybe even a preprinted panel with ducks or something masculine. Then you could quilt around that.

Donna
toolgranny
16 years ago
I agree with the grid. If spaced evenly, it looks very classy when surrounded by other shapes. You can even do leaves around the edge of the center panel and grid the rest with the feed dogs up. It goes very fast. Good luck.
Linda
mary_c_gw
Original Author
16 years ago
Actually, when I finally opened up the bag with the binding fabric, I found enough fabric strips to possibly make 4 more log cabins, slightly smaller, and put them on point inside the square.

No photos yet. It's raining, and I need to lay the quilt outside, LOL. But I have a plan!

Thanks all.

Mary

What have I gotten myself into?? Long!

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