Lori shared such a charming antique doll quilt on her blog this week. I loved it right away. It had such marvelous variety of fabrics and whimsical piecing. It really struck me as a project a child could have made learning to sew. Lori decided a few days later to host a quiltalong to reproduce this little quilt and I could not resist.
It was fun to pull fabrics from my stash. I decided to size the hst's a bit larger than Lori's instructions. I took care to carefully study the color combinations and orientation of the hst's and I copied it as closely as I could with what I had at home.
I found myself wondering if this end result was what the maker had in mind. If somehow some of the pieces got turned around and the maker - loathe to take stitches out - just kept on going :0) Sometimes when making a reproduction I want to "fix" what I perceive as "mistakes" however, then in my eyes the finish inevitably loses the charm of the original. I am eager to handquilt this little top and throw it in the wash - hoping to capture the worn, used look of the original. But... I don't want to lose momentum on this big quilt I am handquilting.
I debated for a while how to quilt the border of this quilt. I wanted to echo quilt the vine but after consideration decided that quilting would be too dense compared to the center. I took it to my guild meeting and liked the idea a friend suggested to do clamshells in the border. In the end I decided it could be difficult to mark them and execute the corners so I opted for boring old diagonal lines. It is going quickly and I hope to finish before the annual outdoor quilt show in late May.
Although lines seem boring - they are fun to quilt :0) No pesky seams to go through.
So the little Harmony top will have to wait. I do need to remember it though, when I get this bigger quilt finished. I love to participate in Lori's quiltalongs but I've only actually finished one of the quilts...
Happy Quilting!!
