A Older Red and White Quilt

Don't you love a red and white quilt? There is something so graphic about a two color quilt and the red and white combo is just oolala! SewCalGal is hosting a A Year of Red and White Quilt Challenges - Phase One - Quilt Show of Quilts Made Prior to 2014. My quilt certainly fits this category.

Back in time, towards the beginning of my quilting journey, I made a red and white quilt. It is a sampler quilt, in which every block is a different quilt pattern. I called it "5 of Hearts" and I gifted it to Auntie. Why "5 of Hearts"? Because there are 5 visible hearts on the quilt top. The central block is a red heart on a white background and each corner of the quilt has a red heart on a white background.

I remember pulling out all the red and white fabrics that I had. In those days, the stash wasn't quite as impressive as it is now, so this is truly a scrap quilt. And in 1988, 100% cotton was hard to find. You can see that I took advantage of several different striped fabrics, one of which is only used on a top and bottom border. Speaking of stripes, see the binding? Pieced, baby! Oh, yeah! Some of my fabric choices concerning value (Attic Windows) were a bit unfortunate.

The blocks came from one of Georgia Bonesteel's books, but I can't remember which one and those books have joined my guild library so I can't reference them. Let's see if I can remember block names. Starting in the upper left corner: Double 4 Patch, Bowtie, Square in square(?), Churndash, Heart, Pinwheel, Pinwheel variation, Attic Windows, and Card Trick.

This is all hand quilted and was done in the Quilt as You Go method. I believe Georgia Bonesteel called it Lap Quilting. The central medallion portion is simply quilted in either cross hatching or 1/4" inside the seams of the block pieces.


There are lots and lots of hearts quilted on this quilt. Don't you love the old style of quilting in the 1980s where there was so much left unquilted? Puffy and baggy

Cables!!

That wide striped fabric in one of the top/bottom borders bled. See it? And this was the first time I did a bit of back art. The cabled borders were too short and needed extensions. In a previous photo, you can see the checkerboard extension used on the front.

All in all, this quilt has held up remarkably well. Other than the bleeding.  And there is a bit of fading on the right side from the sun because the quilt couldn't be turned on the bed. She's not looking too bad for a 16 year old.

"5 of Hearts" made by Paula.thequilter

1988

Size: 90"x111"

100% cotton & poly/cotton blend fabrics

100% polyester batting

I have loved the chance to re-visit this quilt and see how far I have come along on this quilting journey. Are you participating in this Virtual Quilt Show?