Sunprints and Plaids

 I've often said that I could make 100 quilts out of the fabric I have in my sash. It may be a slight exaggeration, but after 40+ years of quilting I have a LOT of fabric. Commercial prints purchased over the years, solids, batiks that I couldn't resist, hand dyed fabric, Dupioni silks, shobori, surface design, etc. Tubs under the guest room bed and tubs in the guest room closet. Floor to ceiling shelving units in my studio. Plastic drawer units under my work table. 

I am not inspired to make competition quilts lately, since most shows have gone online. Houston is cancelled this year for the first time....sigh... I admire people who are making donations quilts and I thought I would concentrate on that for awhile.

One of the smaller plastic drawers in the units under my big work table was labeled Leaf Prints. I surely hadn't opened this drawer in years. Inside were 28 of these little sun-prints that I had made in a workshop many years ago. I had a bigger drawer labeled Plaids and I thought they were a perfect fit for each other.

I used 24 of the prints with two of the pastel Madras plaids from the bin. The leaf prints measured 4 1/2 x 6 inches and I surrounded them with two inch strips, Log Cabin style to make blocks 10 1/2 x 12.  I had a hard time photographing this quilt. It is much lighter and brighter in person. The quilt measures 40" x 70", a long lap quilt or baby quilt. 

The colors on this block are pretty true. See what I mean by lighter and brighter? I made this extra block to see how I wanted to quilt it. I think I will do the leaves on the right hand side. I'm going to attempt to quilt it on my Sweet Sixteen, which will be a piece of cake if it cooperates. I always have trouble with the tension. I bought a new gadget called a Bobbin Case Tension Gauge, which I have not tried yet. My friend has one and she said it made all the difference in solving the tension problem. I certainly hope so. 

You may wonder why I had a whole box of plaid fabrics. Back in the 90's plaids were a trend for awhile. I've always like Madras plaids, maybe a hangover from college in the late 50's. (I'm old). I was chairperson of the annual challenge of my guild in 1998 and the theme was Mad About Plaid. I love this quilt that I made for the challenge. At that time I was making traditional quilts and hand quilting, which  was very good, if I do say so myself. I had small, even stitches, 10 to the inch. This was quilted with gray thread and the bias strips were also hand appliquéd. This is one of the quilts hanging in my studio and measures about 40" square.

These colors are true. It is in a different part of the studio and not affected by the light.

I am linking up with Off the Wall Friday.