{"id":1555,"date":"2022-10-07T12:55:55","date_gmt":"2022-10-07T10:55:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radishthegreat.com\/blog\/?p=1555"},"modified":"2024-01-06T13:59:56","modified_gmt":"2024-01-06T12:59:56","slug":"vintage-radishes-a-22-year-quilt-ufo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radishthegreat.com\/blog\/2022\/10\/07\/vintage-radishes-a-22-year-quilt-ufo\/","title":{"rendered":"Vintage Radishes: A 22-year Quilt UFO"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A long time ago, I subscribed to a monthly packet of reproduction fabrics from a mail-order catalog (I told you it was a long time ago). Almost none of them got used for patchwork in the style of their era. But in the summer of 2000, when I was grooving on a new “machine-applique” class I had taken, these 1930s “flour sack” style fabrics fit an idea I had.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
This is a radish. Really. Look, I never said I could draw.<\/em>
Photo from February 2021<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

My dedicated readers will recognize this quilt because I have been using bits of it as background images. Other readers will recognize the dark outline stitch with pastel fabrics as a big trend in the 20th-century Great Depression.

(It’s hard to find good images of antique quilts on the internet these days; everyone wants to sell me a new pattern or tell me to look in an out-of-print book. These puppies and bunnies<\/a> are exactly what I’m talking about here.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And–just like in the 1930s!–when I ran out of green for the sashing, I pieced scraps together. It’s only visible upon close inspection.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Close inspection<\/em>
October 2022<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

After completing the top, I put it in a box to wait until I got better at fancy machine quilting. In 2000. It languished in one box or another since 2000, until one day last year when I was looking for something else.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Unquilted top.<\/em>
Photo from February 2021<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

It took another seven months to give up on the idea of finding a matching fabric for the binding. I chose a plain Kona cotton. Then another six months passed before I gave up on “fancy machine quilting” and settled for straight lines in the ditch. I’m sure I’ve seen hundreds of vintage quilts in antique shops with this same philosophy: Usable is better than fancy. (The lies we tell ourselves so we can sleep at night, amirite?)

The binding is a stinknormal<\/em> double-fold binding with an attempt at mitering the corners. This is my least-favorite finish, because I can never miter more than three corners correctly, but the perfect has been the enemy of my good for too long. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
[seething hate]
September 2022<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The funnest thing about the stinknormal<\/em> double-fold binding is: no matter where on the quilt I start or how long I leave the tail at the beginning, the place where I join the ends together always falls where I joined the fabric strips together to create the binding. Always.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
If I tried this, I couldn’t make it happen…
September 2022<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Anyway. Here it is, on my couch with Uncle Nutsy, a squirrel I made in 2019:<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
Finished!
October 2022<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

What UFO will fall on my head next? Stay tuned!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A vintage “vintage reproduction”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":649,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,20],"tags":[104,101,102],"class_list":["post-1555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-patchwork","category-stitching","tag-calico","tag-radishes","tag-vintage"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t