Thursday, July 2, 2009

pieces and parts

I've already shown you my favorite quilt pieces over the past few days, but there were more, so many more.
These are precut "thimbles". Their size is around 2 inches long. I'd say there are a few hundred of them. Not nearly enough for a quilt top, but a good start that I can add to over time. I'd guess that most of the fabrics in this pile(not all) date to the 50's and earlier.
Next up - about 75 butterfly shapes. These fabrics seem to be more of my childhood era - 60's to 70's. Also, there are some slight variations in the butterflies. From my first scan through them, I think there are two styles, though they're almost identical in size.

This one will keep me busy for years with hand piecing. Scallops? Clamshells? There have to be at least 500 of these (I also have the template she used). The fabrics look to be mostly from the 60's and 70's here too. Not pictured are an equal number of white pieces. I thought for a bit that I might eliminate the white pieces and just do all color fabrics, but then I saw some examples with white rows and I like them. I also feel somewhat honor-bound to finish the project as Shirley intended it. The ones that are pieced were done by her, but I think she abandoned the project after making some mistakes. I'll have to take those apart before moving ahead.

Petals, hundreds and hundreds of flower petals ready for applique. There are also a lot of black circle centers ready to go. I spent an afternoon sorting these babies out by fabric and color. Only a few of the fabrics are repeated more than 4 times in the shapes. My favorite is placed on top. I think I'll have to incorporate a snippit of it into something for a certain bird I know.

I have my work cut out for me, literally.
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2 comments:

blackbird said...

I love them in their present state - just a collection of fabulous little pieces. I can only imagine all the ideas you have for them!

Amber said...

Wow - amazing! Can't wait to see your projects with all these. But that's some serious sewing to do!