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The Plain Needlewoman

~ Quilt Study, Sewing, Vintage Textiles, Collecting quilts and other old odds and ends.

The  Plain Needlewoman

Category Archives: handquilting

Fancy Work

09 Saturday Sep 2017

Posted by mcinnesjanette in Australian Quilts, d'oyleys, hand piecing, handquilting, Quilt Stories, quilting projects, stitching, vintage quilts

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

Fabric Study, hand piecing, hand quilting, handquilting, quilt collections, Quilting, reproduction fabrics, Rug Hooking, scrap quilts


My d’oyley collection includes many embroidered pieces worked by my Mother, Aunties and a Great Aunt.

Auntie Joan’s old d’oyley

This old d’oyley embroidered by Auntie Joan became the inspiration for my latest hooked rug design ‘New Beginnings’.

New Beginnings

I hooked the rug in hand cut woollen fabrics purchased at Op Shops.

The long, cold nights during Winter provided more time for hand quilting. I completed my Peony Rose quilt and added Prairie Points for a fancy finish.

Prairie Points pressed ready to stitch together

Prairie Points in place ready to add to quilt

The pattern for this quilt is from the book In The Beginning by Sharon Yenter Evans. I made Ferol’s Peony Rose in French General fabrics and used a vintage sateen for the lattice.

I have stitched two more quilt tops which are now ready for basting and hand quilting. I hand pieced the Old Fashioned Spools top and machine pieced the medallion quilt.

Old Fashioned Spools

Medallion Quilt

Spring has arrived here with an abundance of golden wattle and thankfully some much needed rain.

Happy Stitching and take care, Janette The Plain Needlewoman

The ‘Collins’ Quilt – circa 1840s

01 Thursday Oct 2015

Posted by mcinnesjanette in antique fabric, antique quilts, Double Pinks, hand quilting, handquilting, Mending, old fabrics, Quilt Stories, Scrap quilts, Signature Quilts

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

1840s Quilts, Antique Quilts, Fabric Study, quilt collections, quilt study

IMG_3036
The ‘Collins’ quilt was purchased by Eileen and Bernie Donnelly in 1994 from Peterborough, New Hampshire, USA. It is a lovely old Album quilt with signatures of the Collins family and dated 1849. The names on the quilt are Thomas G. Collins, Samuel B. Collins, Smith Collins, Daniel Collins and Mrs Lewis Collins. They also added their location as Halifax and West Halifax.

The block is a simple but appealing Album Block. There are 49 blocks set on point with an alternate plain block in a lovely double pink and white floral. The blocks are pieced from scraps so there is a good variety of interesting fabrics to study.

Detail of blocks

Detail of blocks

There is some wear to this quilt due to its age and it appears to have been well used. Eileen has noted that a brown fabric has disintegrated, due to mercury being used in the dyeing process of brown fabrics in those days. Eileen has carefully stitched tulle over these areas to protect the fragile fabrics. The quilt backing is a plain cream calico. The quilt is hand pieced and hand quilted.

Tulle stitched onto the quilt to protect a fragile area.

Tulle stitched onto the quilt to protect a fragile area.

Bernie researched the history of the family and traced the Collins family to New England. Bernie traced the family back to 1740 to a Daniel Collins who married Alice Pell in New London, Connecticut in approximately 1762. Daniel and Alice were the Great Grand Parents of those who signed the quilt. Bernie also found a Robert Collins who married Ruth Browning in New London in 1809. They had 10 children including Lewis 1817, Daniel 1819, Samuel 1823 and Thomas G. 1831. These signatures are on the quilt along with Mrs. Lewis Collins. (perhaps she was widowed). Thank you Bernie and Eileen for the wonderful research and preservation work on the ‘Collins’ quilt and for providing me with the information.IMG_3027

Hope you enjoyed the story of the ‘Collins’ Quilt. Happy Quilting from Janette – The Plain Needlewoman

Long Nights and Short Days

04 Saturday Jul 2015

Posted by mcinnesjanette in antique quilts, handquilting, quilting projects

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Antique Quilts, Fabric Study, hand quilting, Quilting

Bee Pincushion and Watermelon Needlecase

Bee Pincushion and Watermelon Needlecase

Winter is well underway and the longer nights offer a great opportunity to settle in for a good few hours of hand quilting.

Antique Red and White Star quilt.

Antique Red and White Star quilt.

Seven Sisters quilt - hand pieced and hand quilted.

Seven Sisters quilt – hand pieced and hand quilted.

Peony Rose in French General.

Peony Rose in French General.

Tax time is here. Receipts, financial statements and paperwork needs sorting and filing. It is also an opportunity to reflect on our quilt making and to take stock of our achievements so far. I keep a list of my sewing projects including quilts I plan to make in the future and quilts waiting to be quilted. Checking over my 2015 list I think at this point in time I have made progress. I finished quilting my Seven Sisters Quilt. This is heavily quilted with triple Baptist Fans, so the quilting took some time. The quilting on the antique red and white star quilt is going well. I am quilting the spider web design in the plain blocks. My next quilt in line for quilting is a scrap quilt, which I call Paths to Peace – this is my wish for peace in our time.
Paths to Peace.

Paths to Peace.

A few other odds and ends have been finished and started. My sewing room has had a tidy up and I have taken stock of projects bundled into boxes. I am hoping to finish piecing my Peony Rose quilt before Winter’s end and will be looking forward to starting a new project.

Nellie's Sewing box - A Quilted Crows kit  - finished.

Nellie’s Sewing box – A Quilted Crows kit – finished.

Jelly roll quilt - machine quilting in progress.

Jelly roll quilt – machine quilting in progress.

Scrappy Churn dash top finished.

Scrappy Churn dash top finished.

New rug hooking project drawn up.

New rug hooking project drawn up.

I am looking forward to a busy second half of the year. Wishing you all productive months ahead, Janette – The Plain Needlewoman.

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Recent Posts

  • (no title)
  • Cathedral Window Quilt circa 1930s
  • Marjie”s Star Quilt
  • Australian Crazy Quilt
  • Clarence Valley Coverlet No. 2

Recent Comments

mcinnesjanette on Marjie”s Star Quilt
Lowana Radel on Marjie”s Star Quilt
Jill on My Wagga Quilt
mcinnesjanette on My Wagga Quilt
Sherry on My Wagga Quilt

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Categories

  • 19th century Madder Fabrics
  • antique fabric
  • antique quilts
  • appliqué
  • Australian Quilts
  • Cathedral Window Quilts
  • Christmas
  • Crazy Quilts
  • Cumbria
  • d'oyleys
  • Doll Quilts
  • Double Pinks
  • English Quilts
  • Feed Sack
  • hand piecing
  • hand quilting
  • handquilting
  • hexagons
  • Mary Brooks Picken
  • Mending
  • North Country quilts
  • old fabrics
  • old quilt tops
  • Old Quilts
  • old sewing books
  • Paper Piecing
  • Postage Stamp Quilts
  • Quilt Collections
  • Quilt Restoration
  • Quilt Stories
  • quilting projects
  • red and green quilts
  • Red and White quilts
  • Redwork
  • Repairing old quilts
  • Scrap quilts
  • Sewing machines
  • Signature Quilts
  • Singer Sewing Manuals
  • Spider Webs
  • stitching
  • Stripe Quilts
  • Strippy Quilts
  • Trip Around the World
  • Turkey Red
  • Uncategorized
  • vintage quilts
  • Waggas
  • Welsh quilts
  • Yo-Yo quilts

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