Twelve Quilts of Christmas 2018 – #1

This year I think was my most challenging year for deciding which quilts to include in the Twelve Quilts of Christmas.  In fact, I have run right up to the wire on this one … right up! “How do I not include this one?” I have asked myself many times over, as I have been sifting through all the candidates.   That being said, chose I had to, so here we go for 2018 … The Twelve Quilts of Christmas … Crib Quilts.

 

Precious because they were made for a sweet new soul, the examples of antique crib quilts that remain today are to be especially cherished because ultimately there are fewer of these small wonders that have survived the years compared to quilts in general.  Often worn to pieces, tattered and stained, these “lovies” and “comfies” have pulled at my heart stings more than any other genre of antique quilts that I have gathered together for this event. Of course, the fact that some are stunning specimens of tiny piecing contributes to that feeling I am sure! Many examples I found were afterthoughts in auction listings, quickly laid on the floor, as an add-on, in front of more glamourous or eye-catching larger quilts that fill the auction photo listing. It makes them difficult to see but I am certain they are none the less valuable for the lessons these diminutive wonders could teach us.  All in all though, the searching was so much fun and I found tons of inspiration.

 

So much emotion is wrapped up in these quilts that I have had to really stop to consider what, beyond that patina of love and time, is drawing me to a specific example.  I have seriously been exercising my “antique quilt study muscle” as I parsed the options.  Sometimes we do not see the value in a quilt or what lessons it has to offer, until we really look at it, or someone points out the interesting bits to us.  

 

So in the end, how did I choose?  The same way I always do … the ones that make my heart skip a beat, that make me gasp with delight, that leave me in awe, or that have me searching deep into my computer because I have the image of a certain quilt firmly in my brain and I know it is on the hard-drive somewhere!  In looking over all the choices, I can see that I have also mostly chosen quilts that are compositionally “complete” and often scaled down versions of designs we would find in larger quilts.  Not that I don’t love the orphan block versions of crib quilts or the humble four patch and nine patch quilt examples.  They all set my heart a flutter with their distinctive charm.  As I said, it was challenging year to choose.

 

I hope you will join me everyday from now until the 25th for a celebration of crib quilts.  Enjoy!

 

 

Lively, cheerful and bright … oh this sweet example of the humble four patch!

 

Looking at this one I think it was constructed as four patches that were then joined to form what I will refer to here as a central composition.  Then extra “rows” of larger four patches were added on to the top, right and bottom sides of that central composition to make it a bit bigger.  

 

I love how there is “puddling” of colour that occurs where the yellows and blues have ended up “congregating” in areas of the quilt.  This massing of colour generates a wonderful movement and visual flow, and is a great example of what I call the “random theory of quilting” at work.  

 

In the borders, three square cornerstones were used in the inner triangle border and then a half square triangle was used for the fourth corner, adding a moment of unpredictability!   Fun was had with the triangles in the borders.  The half square triangles in the upper and lower inner triangle border help round out the measurements and make this border fit.  And finally, the orientation of the half square triangles in the upper and lower left corners of the outer border give the illusion of quarter square triangles that “match” the others in the border. 

 

I think they were working it out as they went along.  What is sure is that their creative processing made for a very lively and happy quilt.