Quilts Inspired by Songs and Music

The challenge for the 2026 Fly-In Quilt Show this summer is "Quilt Jam," where we're supposed to create a quilt based on a song.  It has to be a new one, not something we've already made.

Looking back, I'm a little surprised at all the quilts I've made that have been based on songs.  Songs / Music are wonderful inspiration for quilts!

Most notably, the John Hiatt Stolen Moments Series:

Mama Let You Lick the Spoon

Read more about the making of this quilt.

Based on John Hiatt's song, Angel.

 

Spark in the Back of my Mind

Read more about the making of this quilt.

Based on John Hiatt's song, Back of My Mind. 

 

 

 Northern Lights / Rivers of Light

Read more about the making of this quilt.  

Based on John Hiatt's song, Seven Little Indians.

There are a few more Hiatt-inspired quilts that are still in the works! 

But there are others ... 

 

Eddie Vedder' Tattoed Everything (Black)

For this challenge, I am mulling over the possibilities, collecting songs -- hearing and seeing songs in whole new ways in light of this challenge!   Stay tuned!

Watermelon Quilt Top is Complete

 

The Watermelon Quilt Top

While I was on vacation this past week for Thanksgiving, I added the final borders to this quilt top.  I always thought of it as a picnic quilt with a watermelon theme, hence the picnic tablecloth check for the borders.

I sewed the center blocks at Quilt Camp in October.  I'd gotten a jelly roll called seedless watermelon for the center blocks.  I added some black to put the seeds back in [Wink!].    The light accent is really a light green to simulate the rind part of the watermelon.

Nic to have it done this far, though I can't say when the rest will be finished ...

Heavy Black and Red Wool Coverlet

Yes -- another coverlet!    A little eye candy while I'm busy planning the next coverlet (Nothing to show as yet ...)

 

This one seems to have a satin binding.   It's very heavy and sturdy for a twin bed size.  A little stiffer than I like, but the density makes it warmer, too.

 

 

For the record, here is the documentation from the eBay listing:

 

 

Antique Wool Jacquard Coverlet 1800's Hand Woven 89” x 49” Red & Black VGC!

$68.00Unit price $68.00

Item number:126166929030

Sold by: tr3atsGalore (17608)

Item specifics

Condition   Pre-owned: An item that has been used or worn previously. 

Pattern: Woven

Character: Antique Folk Art

Size: 9” X 49”

Color: Red & Black

Fill Material: Heavy Wool/ No Fill

Material: Wool

Set Includes: Coverlet

Item Length 89”

Brand Jacquard

Type: Coverlet

Care Instructions

A True Antique

Original/Licensed Reproduction: Original

Style

Antique

Time Period Manufactured: 1850-1899

Production Technique: Hand Woven & Trimmed

Item Width 49”

Dancing Crane: EAA Quilt Challenge #1: Black-White Plus 1 Other Color

Dancing Crane

Red.  This was my first idea for the EAA Quilt Challenge: Black-White Plus 1 Other Color.  It's based on Rikky Timms' convergence quilts. These are pretty quick and easy to do, once you know what size to cut the strips.   I like these because they come together relatively quick, and the result reminds me of weaving. ;-)   

Directions for Harmonic Convergence Quilts - from Roanoke Valley Star Quilter's Guild

Harmonic Convergence Calculator  - from the Roanoke Valley Star Quilter's Guild

But I also wanted to put my "stamp" on it and go beyond this basic idea, so I added the dancing crane. It also adds the black for the challenge requirements.

The crane silhouette is a stock image that I enlarged ...

 

... and printed to freezer paper and cut into a stencil so that I could push the paint through the holes.

 

I used plain old acrylic paint (black) with a little textile medium to paint through the stencil.

This is how it looked before I pulled off the freezer paper.

There were a few places that the freezer paper had not adhered fully, and it let thru a few bubbles of black paint.  It was easy enough to smooth those out though.

 The paint does soak through the fabric, so I worked on an old print board that I made years ago.  It's simply a piece of foam core (like for poster boards) covered with a pieces of batting and then muslin.  The batting gives it a cushy place for the stamps or other printables to press into ... 

 

All that to say: Be sure you have a blotter underneath.

The other option was to applique all those little pieces, but I didn't really want to take that approach.  That might have been easier with a stencil that was all black, without so many little pieces.  

After it was dry, I outlined the bird with fee-motion stitching to create a relief, meaning, the crane pops up out of the quilt.  Then I stitched-in-the-ditch following all the red and white blocks with invisible thread on the top and cream on the back.  

I used scraps of a Dream Wool batt.  That makes things pop up nicely once it's quilted.

For the quilting, I stitched-in-the-ditch for the convergence grid, being careful to avoid the bird.  I wanted that to pop up, trapunto-style.  I love this Dream Wool Batt -- I didn't have to do anything extra or special to make the crane 3D.

Stitching the borders required a different treatment ... So I did some measurements, and created a template for what I wanted to do.

To transfer it to the fabric, I created multiple paper templates that I could trace.  That worked out better than expected.  I stitched the arcs first, then added the pearls.

 

 

Once that was done, I added the cranes in the corners.  This worked best by tracing the corner cranes to quilting paper, and then stitched through them.  Because the paper gets perforated during the stitching, the paper is easy to pull off.

The last step was to add the straight lines above the pearly arcs.  I measured them out, and marked them with yellow and white chalk.  This took a little practice, but I finally got the hang of it.  Likewise with the stitching.  I found out that it worked better to use the 1/8-inch marker on the free-motion quilting foot, than to try to follow the 2nd line I had marked in chalk.  

Then I washed it to make all the layers meld, and work as a team.  The fabric paint faded from a thick layer to something much more translucent.  I like it better this way!  It had more depth and character now.  And movement.

Voi la!

The EAA Quilt Show is scheduled for July 27, 2023, here in Oshkosh, WI, at the Senior Center.  This one and many other challenge pieces will be on display if you want to see it live. ;-)

Another Woven Overshot Coverlet: Pink Black and White Beauty

Pink-white-gray-black Coverlet from circa 1810? (Maybe?)

I got this one off of eBay.  I'll admit: It was a rebound purchase.  I'd had my heart set on a different coverlet -- antique and definitely old, sewn in 3 panels.  Indigo blue and creme.  It was fresh from an estate sale and the price was so reasonable.  For days, I had the top bid, and I was sure it would be mine ...  and then in the last 30 seconds, I got sniped.  Someone (prob. with software designed for this very purpose) swiped it out from under me before I had time to raise my bid.  That was really crappy.   

So I went searching for another coverlet ...  and found this lovely specimen.  I put in the opening bid, fully expecting to lose this one, too. 

And then, I won!

$40 plus shipping and a little for taxes.  Shipping was a little high.  Not bad.  The seller says it's 1800s -- I'm not sure I believe that, as I don't think I've ever seen pink in an antique coverlet.  I don't think they had the dyes to do that then ...  But maybe? I'll have to research that a bit more.  Seller says it's in excellent shape -- No moth damage. Just a little tear along one edge.

I love the colors:  Dark gray, white and pink.

 

And an interesting weaving pattern, too.  

• Is it Fox Crossing? 
• Or Dogwood Blossom? 
• Or 9 Stars and Table?

I'm still trying to identify the pattern, so if you see it and recognize it, please tell me!

 

If you are interested, check out Kentucky Coverlets by Lou Tate.  The fulltext is online via Arizona State University in their On-Line Digital Archive of Documents on Weaving and Related Topics.  You can flip through a number of named patterns.  Bookmark the AZ site for future reference.  It's a goldmine of weaving info!

When this coverlet arrived, I opened the package and hung it on the back of the couch so I could see it during the week (The getting-to-know-you phase.)  It's a lovely coverlet, and I do think the seller was right -- It is old, but very well cared for. 

It's not as soft as the first one I bought, which I think might be a much more recent merino or alpaca. 

It is sewn in 2 panels with a stealth center seam sewn down the middle.  There is no ridge where the panels meet.  The only way you can tell is that the pattern doesn't quite meet up as you would expect (This may be why most people who do overshot today make towels or other 1-panel items where they don't worry about the consistency of making the panels meet up properly.) 

The pieces came together quite nicely in that center seam where the panels joined up.  I'm calling this side the top side, because the overshot is in relief on this side.

Here's the flip side or back side, because this showcases the white tabby that makes the weave structure stable. 

Turns out, Carol Strickler, in American Woven Coverlets, says they DID have a variety of colors to work with back in the 1800s--including pink.  The black has a green cast to it -- which is much more visible in sunlight.

Lesson Learned: I decided to wash it.  If it really is 200 years old, that's a lot of dust making me cough when I'm near it.  I know how to wash wool items, and I knew I could guard against felting the wool fibers.  What I did not account for was the singles breaking under the stress of the spin cycle.  

OR ...  Black dye (This one has a slight green caste to it) is notoriously hard on fibers, and that could be the cause of damage.  They might have been fragile to start with, or it had been laying folded along that line which might also have added stress to the fibers.

Part of the reason for buying / collecting a few coverlets is so I can see them up close and study them in preparation for making one of my own.

 

Look at those lovely pink singles!  They have a little sparkle to them in person -- That was the reason I loved Patty Reedy's fleece at Rainbow Fleece Farm.  Her sheep / fleece had a luster to them that sparkled -- kind of like this does, in the right light.  It's hard to see it in these pictures, but trust me: It's there!  All these years, I've been plying the yarn I spin in effort to make it stronger, when I could have left them as singles in preparation for making a coverlet like this.  

The singles did plump up a bit after washing and drying -- as I would have expected. That only makes for a warmer coverlet, right? The wonders of wool!  [As a side note, I think the Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival 2022 is happening this weekend.  I have so much fiber waiting to be spun, that I dared not even try attending this year. ]

Even after washing, this coverlet is still in remarkably good shape, and still makes me happy to look at it.  And it's CLEAN now.

I soaked / washed it with the above Wool Wash (a product purchased at Fleet Farm used for livestock with woolly coats. As far as I can tell, it's the same ingredient, Sodium Laurel Sulphate, that is repackaged and sold as Orvus Quilt Paste Soap for a much higher price in smaller quantities.   Orvus Paste Shampoo is the equivalent now.  I don't see Show Paste Shampoo on their website now.  I'm sure I only paid something like $8-12 for this big bottle that has lasted me many years!

This shot compares the front to the back where the white dominates vs the pink and black.  

You can tell that the pink has faded a bit on the pink dominant side.  Is that sub fade?

I am beginning to understand that owning and caring for these antique textiles is a responsibility if I want them to survive for coming generations.  Then again, there is something to be said about USING beloved textiles--quilts included.

Here is the parade of additional pictures for your viewing pleasure:

 

The following shots are courtesy of the seller.  I wanted to keep them for documentation's sake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 My new love!