A Top and Some Tablecloths
When my sister saw this one on the design wall, she said, “Whew, that’s bright!”
“Chips and Salsa” quilt top.
Well, I live surrounded by a wall of green on all four sides of our property, and I think I am just starved for any other color.
Green fields.
I am going to call this quilt Chips and Salsa, because it is the perfect example of that age-old supply and demand problem (first you have leftover salsa, then you go get some more chips and run low on salsa, etc. etc. until you give up and eat all the leftover chips salsa-less).
It is a Nine Patch and Fence Rail pattern, that I saw in a Jenny Doan tutorial a few years ago. Then I saw this cheerful version with no white fabrics, so when I saw bags and bags of pre-cut scraps in solid fabrics at a guild sale, I snapped them up. My plan was to use all of these scraps in one top. AND NOT HAVE ANY LEFT OVER. But, some of the fabrics were too gray or too dull, and I had to leave those for another quilt.
Which meant I didn’t have enough fabric for a whole top, and I had to go get new fabric, twice. And then I would come home and stitch together color combinations I loved, and think, “Tomorrow I am going to quickly whisk all the blocks together into a perfect top,” but then the next morning I would look at those combinations and hate them. So I set those aside for a future quilt too. (It was kind of like pouring chips out in a bowl, and then stuffing stale chips back in the bag.)
Then, due to the various qualities of the fabrics, they didn’t all stitch up consistently. The scraps I bought were of various vintages, and I supplemented with some Moda Grunge fabric (using the solid sides, not the variegated ones). They didn’t fray, but they seemed to sort of slouch and relax after stitching, so that those blocks didn’t remain at 6.5 inches. I also used Waverley fabrics from WalMart, and they did fray pretty badly, but they didn’t shrink up. So a lot of my corners don’t match up. But I am so happy to finally be finished with the main part of this top, that I can overlook crooked corners.
I am planning to add thin white borders, and then a border of small multi-color blocks, but we shall see. I am going to just put this away for a while, and spend lots of time practicing free motion quilting, to see how I want to quilt it.
And at some point, I will take the extra blocks out of their basket, and then we will see what I end up purchasing to help them become a complete quilt.
On another note, my mother-in-law is downsizing, and is passing lovely tablecloths down to me. These were made by my husband’s aunt, and I just love them!
This one is linen.
The variegated thread makes the flowers look so lively!
This one has four large baskets and four small ones on the tablecloth, and a set of four napkins.
Close-up of the beautiful French knots.
They are another nice respite from all the green outside!
Almost on topic. You’re free to ignore it. I notice that you also include some napkins. That clicks me to one of the most interesting textiles I own. It’s a communal napkin.
Here’s the story: https://raymondj.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/where-have-all-the-communal-napkins-gone/
John Howe
As always, a fascinating post from you! It is amazing how seemingly simple objects like that have disappeared from our knowledge banks.
Oh, I love the Chips and Salsa top! All that fun color! I thoroughly enjoyed your relating the making of the top to eating chips and salsa. I can totally relate! Those tablecloths are lovely. A friend of mine just showed me a magazine article (in a long arm magazine) where the person took antique linens and added machine quilting to them. They were stunning!
Do you know Doreen at Treadlemusic? She does FMQ on vintage linens and one day I want to emulate her. Not on these, they are perfect the way they are, but on some others I have that are not so presentable.
Love the tablecloths and napkins. My grandmother made many pillow cases in a similar flower pattern. I even learned to make the basic daisy pattern! Should have kept a sample so my children would believe that. Maybe not. They were sort of drunken daisies.
I have at least one of your dresser scarves, but it has blue deer, no drunken daisies. But the blue deer are a little odd too, when you come to think about it. 🙂
How wonderful to receive the tablecloths! Beautiful, really. And Chips and Salsa, maybe seems too bright to *some* people, but it makes me smile. 🙂
“My plan was to use all of these scraps in one top. AND NOT HAVE ANY LEFT OVER.” This also made me smile. Yes, best laid plans…
As for a white border, I think that might look out of place, since there isn’t any white elsewhere. Really almost any color in it would work, though I might go with the light, bright green. 😉
Ooh, I like that idea! We shall see but I think it will be a while.
The quilt is beautiful! Love it! And nothing is better than hand stitched tablecloths and napkins!
I know! Next time we have a Girly Girl Lunch we can use them!
yes yes and yes to the chips and salsa quilt top! I love it! I love the colors. It looks great! awesome job
Thank you! I am very happy with the colors!
I love those table cloth/napkin sets! I have a few I have collected over the years. Chips and salsa as the name for a quilt pattern cracks me up. 🙂
I would be terrible at running a tea room, but it would be fun to have one, just to see lots of tables covered with the various embroidered designs! 🙂
It is so much fun to hear that another quilter has the same struggles that I have! Fabric-related struggles. Since I use mainly thrifted fabric, they do not “match up” – I solve that with either applique (if it is a hot mess) or FMQ the heck out of it. Doing that I discovered I love the half flower petal stitch and will employ it on my next quilt.
Many of my quilts are bright and colorful – I made my first muted lap quilt recently. Good thing I am giving it away, my keepers need more zippety do dah.
Those tablecloths are TO DIE FOR!
Thank you so much for commenting! I love using thrifted fabric, and I look forward to seeing how that flower petal stitch will work on your next quilt. I need a lot of help with FMQ.
Very nice – both the “chips and salsa” and the beautiful table cloths. I do love green, I’ll admit, but bright colour spotted around the house is always pleasing.
Thank you! I think I used to have a more subtle color sense but the never-ending green has warped me. 🙂
You’re a poster child for why scrap quilters never run out of scraps. It’s like sourdough starter mix. I hope you can use your lovely embroidered table linens.
That is true, like sourdough starter!
Have you seen the new Snickers candy bar wrappers? They say, “Who are you when you’re hungry?” and then they have terms like “knucklehead” and “hot mess.” And I bought one that said “snarky!” I was going to photograph it for you, but then I just ended up eating it and I forgot and tossed the wrapper.
That last tablecloth and napkins just spun my head around! That Yellow, Those French Knots!
I am such a sucker for both. I have to cull some of my linens I am not using and I can imagine it will be painful! But I’m not using them………..whaah I liked the article on the communal napkin, thanks for including it.
I don’t really use mine too much either, but I have a lot of them folded up on a little shelf in my kitchen, and it just makes me happy to see them every day. 🙂
I think your Chips and Salsa quilt is just gorgeous! And you had me chuckling as your attempt to use up existing stash sort of expanded into buying more stash – I’ve had that happen so many times. Those pieces made by your husband’s aunt are just beautiful …. btw – and totally incidentally – I have just finished reading Grace Snyder’s No Time on My Hands which is a recommendation I picked up from an earlier blogpost of yours. It is WONDERFUL – I’ve been reading up about the Nebraska sandhills since. It has opened my eyes to a world I had no knowledge of at all – and truly, there was no time spare! Thank you so much for the recommendation.
Oh good, I’m so glad you liked that book! I really love books about women homesteaders who are competent and comfortable being out in nature. And I love her writing style too — it immerses you in that world without bogging down in detail!
A bright quilt made of solids and vintage linens–I *love* this post! I think I’d put a very dark border on that quilt–it would make the center glow from within. Both table sets are so sweet–I do love a bunch of French knots!
I will try different colors for the borders, I do have another partially done top that is black with lots of colors, so I am not sure if I want them to match or differ. Or if the colors in the black top will fight with the colors in this one and I will have to keep them in separate rooms so I don’t hear them!…
Wow! I love all those table cloth sets! And I also love the quilt! Love the colors.
Thank you! I love working with color and I am also very glad to be the recipient of someone else’s dedicated work! 🙂
The tablecloth design are so awesome!
Wow, those table linens are some pretty nice hand-me-downs!
I love bright colors. Your quilt is amazing, and the embroidered tablecloths are priceless!
I love the top fabric and it’s certainly not too bright for me but, while I couldn’t tire of natural greenery, I know what you mean about breaking up the monotony of it… that’s how I get when it snows… white, white, everywhere and then I crave colours!
Do you read Mary Corbet’s Needle’n’Thread blog? She has some amazing resources there.
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