Stars and Bars

Yet another Stars & Bars.  It won't be the last.

 Here is yet another Stars and Bars top that is, at this point, pinned up and ready to quilt. 

I had 64 blocks that I made back in the 90's.  The burgundy/brown pieces for many of the stars came via a snail mail round robin, but I provided the tan and muslin fabrics.  The photos are not reading as red as they should, so apologies for that.

This quilt uses 25 of the 64 blocks I have.  That means there will be at least one more of these and then I will have 14 blocks left over with which I think I will make a small crib quilt, but not in the Stars and Bars arrangement.  But, maybe! 

Red and Brown is a favorite combo.

This is the backing.  Color's not reading right here, sorry!

This photo shows the backing that I chose.  I was very fortunate to have purchased five yards of this wonderful reproduction fabric when it was on sale long ago. 

I think I mentioned previously that I am not buying new fabric to finish these UFOs; I'm relying on stash fabric only.  Incredibly, this is working out well for me.  My old habit was every time I finished a top I went out shopping for backing fabric.  A great way to build a stash, but mine is so big I could actually open a shop.  Consequently, I am sometimes piecing the backing.  Again, that seems to be working well for me and it makes the quilt just a little more delightful, in my opinion.

Lady of the Lake Quilt Repair

Close up of top border shredding!

 Sab's favorite quilt, a Lady of the Lake made in the 80's sometime, has been in daily use for over twenty-five years.  As you can see, the top border sustained damage from all the tugging and pulling while the rest of the quilt remains in pretty good shape.  There were four triangles that needed to be replaced, too, as well as the binding.  So, get to work Patty!

First step:  remove the binding.

In those days I was sewing my bindings by hand and my stitches were quite small, so it took a bit of time and a mighty fine seam ripper to get all of it off.  Fortunately, I had enough of the original fabric left to make new binding to match the inner border.

No damage to the backing, which is a pretty cool map print.

 The backing is still in good shape and it is one of Sab's favorite fabrics:  maps!!  Because the backing was still good, I decided to simply replace the outer border all the way around.  I'm afraid the biggest problem we had was finding fabric in the right color blue; that took a while, but I think what we purchased truly works.  Much of the original blue floral has faded quite a bit and we just couldn't find anything near that color, especially in this era of "modern" quilting!

Now it's in better shape than when it was new!

All I did was cover the original border all the way around, quilt it with a wave-like free-hand design and apply the binding (this time by machine).  Voila!  It is good to go back on the bed and provide textile cuddles during the upcoming winters!