I'ii never forget a visit to my friend, Barb's, sewing room where she revealed the secret behind much of her design process. It was a drawer full of miscellaneous quilt blocks leftover from previous projects. Wouldn't it be fun, I thought, to arrange them like puzzle pieces into various quilt designs?
It turns out that's precisely what Barb did when she made this year's birthday quilt for me. All the elements were "pieces and parts" of other projects made to fit by adding on or trimming down as need be.
I’m guessing Barb started her layout with the vintage Shoo Fly block, then added Broken Dishes to continue the classic blue and brown color scheme. When her strip of Flying Geese was too long to fit, Barb simply lopped it off leaving a quirky little partial block behind.
Adding to the "make do" charm is a backing pieced from three strips of beautiful bird chintz fabric. It takes a keen eye to spot the seams. Can you find them? Barb also varied her binding strips just as a frugal seamstress might had she run out of her intended fabric.
Finally, a gentle tea bath gave the quilt its aged appearance. Don’t you love Barb's attention to detail?
Weeks before my birthday, I spotted a vintage blue bowl on Etsy. "That's just what I need," I told myself. "Wouldn't it look great filled with old buttons sitting atop a scrappy quilt?"
When just such a quilt arrived, I raced right back to Etsy and bought the bowl. Happy birthday to me!
By the way, here are photos of Barb's miscellaneous block drawers. Do you see the allure of designing this way?
Thank you for another great birthday quilt, Barb. You always manage to surprise and delight me! ❤️
