Two Quilts, Two Seasons

These two quilts certainly have a Winter/Summer theme. The dark quilt is heavy and warm, with thick batting, while the lighter quilt is simply backed with flannel and is the perfect weight for late spring/early summer nights when it can still get a little chilly. Both quilts use fabric from 3 generations of women in my family.

Winter Quilt
Several years ago, (actually, over 10 years ago - yikes!) I started my first full/queen size quilt. I had made a smaller quilt before, but never as complicated or large a quilt as this one. I decided to use a classic Log Cabin pattern. Fortunately, I come from a family of crafters. There were more than enough fabric scraps to make all the squares for the quilt top - I only needed to purchase fabric for the backing and batting.

It took several years to finish this quilt, though I did not work on it consistently and took a break for several years. Every piece of fabric comes from a previous project - some are from the first dresses I ever made, a few are from curtains in my parent's first apartment, one is from a lunchbag i made for a friend, dresses my mother made for me as a child, etc. In that way, the quilt is incredibly personal.

Ultimately I chose to tie the quilt rather than hand quilt it - although the spacing of the ties does suggest that quilting would have been an equal task.

Summer Quilt

The second quilt has had several incarnations. My grandmother originally made two baby quilts using a classic Baby Block pattern. My mother and her siblings used them as kids. When I was a kid, my mother had sewn the two quilts together and they were used as a curtain over a large stairwell window.

A few years ago, I rediscovered this quilt and decided to make it into a 'summer quilt' - rather than quilt it with batting, I backed it with flannel. This gives it enough weight and warmth for a late spring, early summer blanket.

I added a border that reflected the colors in the quilt top. I hand quilted the top and flannel backing with yellow embroidery twine, using a large stitch than I would if I were traditionally handquilting. I stitched the white diamonds in the pattern, extending the pattern out across the added border.

This quilt has a great weight and feel. I love that it contains 3 generations of work.