Thursday, March 19, 2009

Fabric and more fabric

A few weeks ago I ordered a swatch card of Kona Cottons by Robert Kaufman fabrics. (I think these are the best quality solid fabrics available for quilters.) I took the card to my last "Turn of the Century Random Sampler" class with Eileen Trestain last month, and asked her to label various swatches as to which ones were suitable for reproduction quilts. I was surprised to find her labeling almost 25 of the different colors - I never thought there would be that many. My friend Franny - also in the class - and I decided to order bolts of many of these over the course of the next couple years, as we both want to replicate some of the antique quilts we saw in class - particularly applique quilts done with solid fabrics.

Yesterday the order arrived, and I spent much of today separating each bolt into two even halves. Gazing on such riches just makes me smile! That's about 10 yards apiece of each of the colors - enough for the very large four-block quilts we saw in class. We can hardly wait to get started!
From left to right, these are the fabrics we chose - overdyed greens 1850-1900 (Kona Grass Green), turkey red 1840-1860 (Kona Chinese red), 1870's-1880's green (Kona Spruce), chrome orange, which we call cheddar these days (Kona Papaya, which looks much too yellow in the picture), 1850-1870's oil boiled green (Kona Kelly).
I also ordered a couple of new-to-me books. I'd seen Flora Botanica by Barbara Brackman at Momma Made It and knew I had to have it. It's the catalog of a display of floral quilts at the Spencer Museum of Art in Kansas. It's a marvelous books - as are all Kansas City Star quilt books IMHO.
The second book, Small Blocks, Stunning Quilts, was recommended by my friend Kathie Holland. It's full of pictures of full size antique quilts made with small blocks - 4" to 5" or less - with instructions for reproducing them. Some have blocks as small as 1 1/2"! There are several quilts in this book that I'd love to make. If you love little blocks and antique quilts then you definitely need this book!
I've put my sewing room back in order after all the cutting - now to get back to the medallion quilt.

5 comments:

Janet said...

Thanks for sharing the info on the Konas, I'm going to keep a record of that. Love those books.

Nancy Anne said...

I don't think I can conceive of a 1 1/2" finished BLOCK! I don't think I'm ready for that yet...but if you try one of those, I'll be happy to follow along - for one block anyhow!

ranette said...

I bought both of these books on Tuesday!! The info on the Kona cottons is wonderful, thank you.

I was wondering if you had tried the Moda Bella solids? I have one bolt, but haven't cut it yet.

Helen said...

I haven't seen the Flora Botannica book in New Zealand yet. It looks lovely judging by the cover.

sewprimitive karen said...

Love the Kona information and the blocks look positively enticing, especially that spruce green, so authentic!! Well, I know they all are, but I'm always drawn to that odd green in antique quilts.