It didn’t seem right that I blog about my one quilt a month quest on the store blog, but not here – after all it all started here!
Activities at the store have consumed 99.99% of my time, but that itty bitty time that I was able to eek out for myself I managed to finish my quilt for March.
Isn’t she purty? This is probably the most girly, girl quilt I’ve ever made!
For years, and I literally mean YEARS, I’ve been collecting vintage hankies. I’m not sure why I started, but I’m pretty sure it started out with an idea to make a quilt with them. I’ve long ago forgotten what my original plan was, but that hasn’t stopped me from collecting the hankies throughout the years.
This past January the Minneapolis Modern Quilters started a challenge to create a quilt using only recycled items. I initially had the idea of using cashmere sweaters to create a quilt, but then I went antiquing with my friend Jennifer and was reminded of the vintage hankies I had been collecting when I ran across a huge selection of them! I couldn’t resist picking up a few more and then tried to come up with a plan to use the hankies in a quilt.
I brought my hankie stash with me to quilt retreat and sorted them according to size. Some of the hankies had these beautiful crochet edges so I knew I wanted to keep the edges in tact. I decided to lay them all out on a vintage sheet (another thrift store find) in order to preserve the edges. I layered everything and then quilted down all the hankies in a floral free-motion quilting.
I bound the edges of the quilt with purchased fabric, only because I didn’t bring enough fabric with me to retreat – if you can believe that!
I still have quite a few hankies left, but those may end up as pillows. In the meantime, I’m frantically trying to find the time to start and then finish Ms. April in the few days that remain. I think I may have an idea and with any luck it will whip up fast using the last Jelly-Roll I have! Wish me luck!
