Quilt appraiser and historian Mary Kerr will knock your socks off with her contemporary quilts featuring often overlooked vintage textiles that are usually headed to the scrap heap. With a deep appreciation for those who stitched these orphan blocks, Mary shares tips and tricks for stabilizing and utilizing blocks. Once prepared, the fun of playing with the blocks to create a ‘new’ piece begins. From pillow to wall hanging, the ideas abound.
All this, plus Ricky shares a new rendition of an antique Civil War quilt featuring machine appliqué and an inventive use of the clamshell quilting design. Ricky calls this his ‘fast train to finishville’ method.
Inspired by a Civil War quilt, Ricky gives new life to the antique Sumter Rose block by creating a contemporary rendition wall hanging. The version he demonstrates substitutes an invisible machine blanket stitch for the hand appliqué. He also demos a clamshell quilting design.
We learn about Mary Kerr and her love of vintage textiles. Alex and Ricky take a look at her quilts.
Using the pumpkin seed block, Mary shares tips for evaluating orphan blocks. Once determining the most usable candidates, she shares a pillowcasing technique that stabilizes the block. She shares several placement options and appliqué choices.
Mary also has a collection of ‘seed bags’ (idea bag). These clear bags are filled with fabric/block elements that might work together. She lets the seed bags percolate while she determines their future.
Mary demos a great idea for using a small orphan block to create a pillow. She uses a shirt placket w/ buttons to finish the back of the pillow. The pillow is also a great arena for trying out free-motion quilting while adding a layer of interest and texture.
Mary comes from a family of artists. We see her collection of hand thrown jugs that feature faces.
Thank you, Mary Kerr.
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