Yo Yo Quilt

 I've always held a great appreciation

and loved the look of

Yo Yo Quilts

All of those little circles tacked together

really do not seem like a quilt at all.

There is no batting, backing

or 

"sandwich technique"

going on.

From a functional point of view

not much warmth is provided either.

But, for nearly 100 years

Yo Yo Quilts have maintained their popularity.

Women have always liked the concept

of an easy take along project

to keep their hands busy

combined with

a way to use up small pieces of scrap fabric.

 During Denise's home tour

she had a beautiful example of a 

Yo Yo Quilt

hanging in her guest bedroom.

A family heirloom

made years ago by her mother

with the help of her brother.

How wonderful to imagine a young boy

taking interest and spending time 

helping his mother with this project.

 A small quilt block pinned on top 

as part of 

Denise's contribution.

 Yo Yo quilts are so much easier to make in our day.

Clover offers

Quick templates

in several sizes

that makes the circles come together fast and easy.

And they have created several shapes like

flowers

butterflies

ovals 

shamrocks 

and hearts

that take 

Yo Yo Quilts to a whole new level.

Arizona Colors Quilt

 While visiting the 

Sharlot Hall Museum 

I was excited to see a 

selection of quilts displayed

in one of the exhibit rooms.

 The Yavapia County Quilters

of Prescott 

shared their contributions

to the 

100 Years 100 Quilts

honoring Arizona's Centennial.

 Arizona Colors

by Carol Miller

comes with a wonderful story.

Carol's mother

Pauline McCollough Brown 

hand pieced this star when she was

in college in the 1930's.

Carol wrote:

"It rested in a box untouched and unknown to me,

for 50 years or so.  

Mom was moving out of her homestead

when I found it under a bed."

 Carol rescued the quilt with a promise to finish it one day.

She eventually added the contemporary fabric 

that surrounds the star 

and the pieced border.

 Do you ever wonder what may 

become of your UFO's 

that might get tucked away in a box under a bed?

 Who knows?

Maybe some day your quilt 

might hang in a beautiful museum.

It's possible!

There were several other 

wonderful quilts 

as part of the exhibit

that I will share with you this week.

Giddap and Ararat in Double Knit

 I have had the Giddap and Ararat

quilt blocks on my to-do list for 

a while.

Even though the chaos from our 

Presidential elections 

are over,

I still think about these blocks

and really need to 

make them a priority.

 

 Giddap/ Democratic Donkey

 and Ararat/ Republican Elephant

were very popular patterns

when they were published

in 1931 by the

Kansas City Star newspaper.

 Darlene Reid displayed her version

at last years Art of Quilting Show

at the Gilbert Museum.

 Imagine my surprise when I saw

both Giddap and Ararat

Completed C. 1970's

made from white cotton and

Double Knit Polyester

at this year's show.

 From the collection of Gail Van Horsen

 These Double Knit versions

are quite a bit larger

and much bunchier

 than Darlene's.

All hand pieced and hand quilted.

 Truthfully, I'm not a fan of the Double Knit,

but I do appreciate the maker's effort,

and realize that sometimes

as quilters

we work with what ever materials 

we can get our hands on.

Double Knit Quilts

 One of the things that intrigued me the most

about the 

Art of Quilting Show

at the Gilbert Museum

was the collection of 

Double Knit Quilts

shown by 

Gail Van Horsen

 Seriously?

Could anything beautiful come from Double Knits?

I lived through the 1970's

and I considered the thick polyester scary even then.

It was a fabric trend that passed through quickly

and my only comment is

Thank Heavens

Cathedral Windows-completed 1971

As Gail was studying to become a quilt appraiser

she noticed there was a big gap in quilting

between the late 1960's through the mid-1970's.

You guessed it.

She wrote

"I found that polyester double knits, 

a fabric normally shunned by quilters,

 was the most 

available fabric during that time."

 Gail went on a quest to see if there were any 

Double Knit Quilts 

"out there".

She could not find any printed material on the subject.

Her first DK Quilt acquisition was through an E-Bay search.

 In fact, Double Knit Quilts may be such a rare find,

that Gail might possibly be the only known collector.

What an interesting position as a quilter!

Gail is a AQS Certified Appraiser of Quilted Textiles.

She will be presenting more about her collection

May 4th

10 a.m.

at the Gilbert Museum

 This Cathedral Window was made by the traditional method

of using muslin for the body,

but all of the colored windows

are polyester double knit.

 Grandmother's Flower Garden

Gail wrote

"This quilt was given to me as a collection 

of machine pieced flowers."

She completed the piecing by hand

and is currently in the midst of 

hand quilting the top.

 There are several 

Double Knit quilts currently on display

at the show that runs through May 31st.

I will show you a few more pictures in the next few days.

Be prepared for a trip down memory lane.

This lime green Leisure Suit 

was made by Fern Zebisenski

for her husband in the 1970's.

Yes, he actually wore it in public.

And Fern added 

"He fit right in with the crowd."

Crosses and Losses Quilt

 Viewing traditional quilt blocks

helps me realize how

old becomes new again.

Solid color quilts

have really gained in popularity

in the last year.

 Crosses and Losses

by Norma Spaid

currently being shown at 

the Art of Quilting Show

at the Gilbert Museum

is a beautiful example

of mixing a Vintage block

with new solid colors

so readily available in the 

market today.

 Norma wrote

"I have admired the Amish quilts for years,

and really wanted to have one.  

I couldn't afford to buy one, so I made my own.

I used 100% Kona cotton,

and I think I have 15 different colors

in my quilt."

Just out of curiosity I looked to see 

how many solid colors are now

available in

Kona's by Robert Kaufman:

243 

to date

with more to come

 The Crosses and Losses block name 

was inspired by the Bible.

It's also known as 

Old Maids Puzzle

or Double X

The pattern has been 

available since

the Civil War.

Norma's border really ties this quilt together.

There are a lot of 

free patterns and tutorials 

on the Internet

for the 

Crosses and Losses block.

I found a well done post

by Pam Weeks

HERE

Appliqued Sampler Quilt

There are 3

stunning vintage quilts by

Edith Shoppell

hanging right behind the front counter

at  the

Art of Quilting Show 

 at the Gilbert Museum

*going on now through the end of May

 These quilts are shared by 

Mike Shoppell

in tribute to his mother.

 Appliqued Sampler (1964)

Edith Shoppell

West Lawn, Pennsylvania

Hand Appliqued 

Hand Quilted

I loved the stories the family shared

with each quilt, and felt a

comfort and longing 

for an era now past.

 A grand daughter wrote:

"A lot of her work was influenced

by the Pennsylvania Dutch background

in which she was raised."

" A lot of the motifs she used were

traditional folk art. 

Others were her own design

as seen in this sampler quilt. "

 "She loved what she did, but never thought of her work

as being anything special.  

She was a very simple, humble woman

and this was her love and her gift to us."

Edith made two of these quilts 

with each square different.

No two of her quilts were ever the same.

 Her son Mike wrote:

"My favorite memory of my mother quilting

is of my parents sitting in the front room

with Dad controlling the TV,

always watching sports,

and mom in her chair with her

TV tray in front of her 

piled high with 

quilting-in-progress

and design papers."

Wouldn't it have been wonderful to sit next to Edith

and learn from her?

What kind of stories would she tell?

And it also made me wonder 

what kind of  memories will

our families share when

our quilts are viewed 

years from now?

Hexagon Quilts Past and Present

 Out of the 300+ quilts

that were hung at the

Arizona Quilters Guild Show

I especially enjoyed 

the display on

Hexagon Quilts

The very first quilt I made

was a Grandmother's Flower Garden

  and my most recently completed project 

was a Hexagon pillow.

 The Honeycomb or Mosaic shape really is timeless.

 The six-sided shape can be found

in ancient cultures,

and is our oldest known 

quilting pattern.

 The guild set up demo tables

with volunteers

who taught the hand technique

of English Paper Piecing

often used to make hexagons.

 Some of the quilts on display 

were from current collections

and some were vintage finds.

 Every one was unique and beautiful.

 This was the first time I have viewed a 

signed/ memory hexagon quilt.

Good idea!

 The centers of a hexagon 

can be as varied as the 

overall design.

 Each quilt is

quite labor intensive,

 and a good way to use up bits of

scrap fabrics.

 I really liked this vintage star quilt

which is constructed 

using the English Paper Piecing technique

with diamond shapes.

 And a miniature quilt

mixing hexagons, diamonds and embroidery. 

Notice how the embroidery forms

a hexagon in the center

of each star.

Don't you love the extra detail in this piece?

I came away from the Show with

a lot of new ideas for

prospective quilts.

I see more Hexagons in my future.