Little Blue Houses Day 11

House quilts are one of my favorites and I really like this blue and white antique house quilt c. 1890. Part of the Starley Antique Quilt Collection (available to come to your show, shop, or guild with my trunk show and classes)

Especially like the one reversed block - white house on blue ground. And all the small scale prints and shirtings.

And the funky borders and the general wonkiness. Enjoy.

Quilted Joy, Day 10

Here is my reproduction of the antique Rose of Sharon with birds and blooms, I shared yesterday.
Quilted Joy is 31" x 31" and was made for the American Quilt Study Group's Civil War Quilt Study and is part of the traveling exhibit. Hand applique and hand quilting.

Here's the top before quilting

and after... I did diagonal line quilting. Love the quirky, folky feel.

Rose of Sharon with Birds Day 9

And this is probably my all time favorite antique and reproduction. Tune in tomorrow to see the reproduction 😊

 Love these birds and berries

 And the beautiful flowers

 And this delightful little bird too.

9 block, Rose of Sharon Quilt with Birds and Berries.

c. 1850, Ohio.

Sandra Starley Collection

Love Day 8 of 31 Days of Blogging

One of my all-time favorite antique quilts and reproductions are the crib quilt fromVirginia and the miniature quilt that I reproduced from it a few years ago for the Quilt Alliance contest. My quilt won the Viewers Choice award and 3rd place in the overall contest.

Antique quilt - heart block

Repro block. The little flower pots are only 1.5" high

Antique Bird block

Repro block - note the bird fabric and the fussy cut eye

Antique Crib Quilt - Starley Collection

Virginia is for Lovers - 16" X 16"
Sandra Starley

Unusual Grandmothers Flower Garden Day 7

Wordless Wednesday - well, almost.

An early hexagon garden in the Starley Collection.

Blazing Star Day 6 of 31 Day Blog Writing Challenge

This charming little LeMoyne star is the sashing corner post for an antique Blazing Star quilt in my collection (see below). Love the scrappy star and what a lot of work for a corner post - most are solid squares or simple piecing, like 4 or 9 patch blocks.

Here's the main star block - Blazing Star block.

This c. 1885 blazing star is a good example of the colors, fabrics and styles of quilts of the 1880's and 90's. It has 2 red novelty prints with horseshoes (equestrian designs were very popular) and the typical reds and blues and light shirtings. The small star corner posts elevate the quilt and the double pink sashing is the crowning touch for this quilt star. Please click on the photos to see more detail of the fabrics. 

Goose in the Pond Day 5 of 31 Day Blog Challenge

One of my earliest and best purchases is this charming Goose in the Pond quilt. I especially love the blocks like this one with sawtooth "coping strips" to make it the needed size.

Quilted with Baptist Fan curved quilting and pieced with scrappy construction. 

This is one of my cheeriest quilts and you can definitely see it was made in the transitional period between the dark Victorian quilts  of the late 1800s and the bright 1930s quilts. It is circa 1910 and from Ohio. It is a fairly uncommon pattern.

Here is the full quilt. Check out the bottom row, some serious technical difficulties but still an awesome quilt.

Rocky Roads Day 4 Blog Challenge

2 different Rocky Road quilts in my collection. The purple one on the left was made by my Great Grandmother Isabel Day Rogers in Utah, c. 1935 and the pink one on the right was made by an unknown quilter in Lancaster Co. PA, c. 1890.

Love that she used my favorite color purple and lots of polka dots. Her quilt was made in a much larger scale than the pink one and is done is a much more freeform random string piecing method. Some sections have only 2 or 3 piece while others have up to 10 and they are sewn straight and at a variety of angles.

The PA quilt is much more controlled with each block having the same red/blue center framed by a yellow print. The strings are more uniform than in Grandma's too. But this quilt has a wild double pink greek key background that might have gone completely off track if the blocks were totally wild too.

It has a wonderful neon pink and green print back. Neon prints - so named because of their bright colors were most seen c. 1890. By the way, Grandma's quilt has a flour sacking backing.

Pillar Print Beauty Day 3 blog challenge

My favorite quilt backing ever is this beautiful English pillar print with fruit, flowers and baskets that is about 200 years old. (Starley antique quilt collection).

The front is pretty wonderful too - a small scale double 9 patch with lots of great fabrics.

Such a great combination and clearly made by a real fabric connoisseur. Amazing to see in the cloth and available to come visit you- booking now for lectures, trunkshows, and classes in 2017 and 2018.

Hexagon madness 2nd Day of 31 Day Blogging Challenge

It seems that the quilting world today has a bad case of hexagon fever, hexi madness, hexagonitis, etc. But a passion for hexagons is nothing new as hexagon quilts have been around for about 300 years - one of the very first piecing patterns.

Today I'm sharing a hexagon quilt from my collection that is circa 1890. Love how it looks like the quilt is looking back at you.

This block just barely shows a horse fabric, a mill engraving or conversation print. These are most often seen in the 1880s and 1890s.

And this is my favorite block- very scrappy.

Be sure to click on the photos to really see the details. This is the most intensely quilted hexagon, I've seen. Hand pieced and hand quilted. 

The pattern is Brackman #160m, The Diamond Field (Kansas City Star 1932), Rainbow Tile (Hall 1935) and Martha Washington's Flower Garden (Spool Cotton 1940)

Cheddar Baskets, Day 1 of 31 days of blogging

So excited to share my newest quilt: Make Mine Cheddar, a reproduction of an antique basket quilt in my collection. Made for the American Quilt Study Group's 2016 Basket Quilt Study.

Make Mine Cheddar
Sandra Starley
 original pattern inspired by antique basket quilt
31" x 31"

1890 Mennonite Basket Quilt - Southeast PA

My quilt top with the antique inspiration quilt.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To find more creative people participating the 31 day blogging challenge.

I'm on the cover - Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks - Give away

***Update, the giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to Lesley and Siouxzq who were the lucky commenters, thanks to the random number generator. ****

I'm so excited to have a block in the newest edition of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Magazine, issue #14. And I was pleasantly surprised to find that my block Gosling Goes Wild is on the cover. The magazine was just released so look for it at your local store.

A big welcome to my new visitors who are stopping by from Quiltmaker's Blog Tour. I hope you'll enjoy seeing my block and learning a bit about me: Sandra Starley, AQS Certified Quilt Appraiser, antique quilt collector and lecturer, quilt designer, etc. and leaving a comment to be part of the GIVE-AWAY to win a your own copy of the magazine with photos and patterns for all 100 blocks (more about that later). . .

Drumroll: Here is Gosling Goes Wild!! When I'm not using traditional antique colors, I love working with black and white fabrics especially dots. I really like to tweak and modernize antique patterns and Pinwheels and Flying Geese have been around for a long time.

Gosling was inspired by antique quilts and modern fabrics and has a fun twist. It is made up of 3-D folded geese blocks. You'll have to see the magazine for more details. Gosling is Block #1397 on page 60.

I'm a covergirl. There it is on the second row...

2 GIVE AWAYS-- Quiltmaker is generously sponsoring a giveaway, please leave 1 comment for a chance to win your own copy of Quiltmaker's 100 Blocks Issue #14. Since I love working with antique blocks, share your favorite traditional block in your comment. And to make things twice as fun, I will also be giving away a copy of QM Issue #14 to a lucky commentor.
Be sure you leave your email, if you are a no reply or anonymous blogger, so you don't miss out.
Leave just 1 comment and on November 24th at 5 p.m. Eastern, I will pick 2 winners. After commenting, be sure to click on the photo below to visit QM to see more blocks and join in more giveaways.

The give away

Early Fabric Dyes Blues

One of my all time favorite quilts, a charming, 9 patch top. Blocks are circa 1830/40 but joined together later and fabrics are 1830s and 1840s and earlier, even 1790.

The four corner blocks feature stripes with Prussian blue and the lighter (less often seen) Prussian Green. 

And here's another block from the same quilt top with a Prussian blue plaid often called a buff and blue (top right corner).

And this block features dyed indigo fabric with a resisted or bleached diamond design.

More of the top.

Sign here: Delaware Valley signature quilt

I collect and study early signature quilts, particularly those from the Delaware Valley -Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland and from 1840-1870.

(ps. I'd love to bring them to your quilt study group, shop, or quilt guild or show)

Here's a few "signature" details from and 1840's signature quilt from Delaware and PA.  Signature* because most of the blocks are not signed by hand but are inked or stamped.

 Bird stamped block and the antique bird stamp

  Detailed inked drawing.

Another bird stamp- Eagle and stars.