I'm not usually a fan of anything that's too school-ish, especially not flashcards, but it was love at first sight when I saw this novelty print. For years it sat in my "too good to cut" stash. I used a little bit for a bag that didn't turn out at all well, then a bigger piece for a rice bag. Seeing the way it looks when I cut it for the rice bag made me decide that the busy novelty print would be great as a wide border.
But a wide border for what? I couldn't decide until I saw an Irish Chain quilt that someone had made with a black background. That made me think of chalkboards...and then I found this fabric in my stash. It was intended for a different project, but with its dusty black color and the paler flecks it was the perfect background. That other project will have to use something else.
I didn't write down the measurements I used, but the nine patch blocks seem to measure 1 3/4" and the finished quilt is 16" x 21"ish. don't measure tiny blocks after you quilt them - it's not even remotely accurate.
I'm loving this little quilt so much that it's currently hanging over my sewing machine in the space that Strawberry Fields had been in since 2011. I'm always pinning little blocks up there and I figure this one is better suited to be a sort-of bulliten board.
Going back to the picture at the top of the post, the bell belonged to Great Aunt Molly, who taught at a girls' boarding school. I'm told that she used it in her classroom. The Bobbsey Twins books are from the library bookstore where I scored a huge stack of them for fifty cents a piece. I was never a big fan of that series, but I couldn't leave them behind...not at that price. And once Grandma saw them and told me those were the ones she'd read as a girl, there was no way I was going to part with them!
This post is linked to Crazy Mom Quilts
Cute little quilt. Oh, such memories in your vignette! I read the Bobbsey Twins books but not as faithfully as Nancy Drew. I have my grandmother's school bell. My mother, also a teacher, used it to call us kids home from the neighborhood at dinner time. (She was too much a lady to holler.)
ReplyDeleteWhat a trip down memory lane. I use to use a bell to call the kids in for dinner. I read all those Bobbsey Twins books. My first taste of mysteries of a sort. Your quilt is darling and a perfect use of a large novelty. Thank you for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI love anything school themed and this little quilt is darling! And how precious that you have your Aunts bell. Who doesn't love the Bobbsey Twins? I read them along with Nancy Drew and the Boxcar children. Thanks for sharing with SYC.
ReplyDeletehugs,
Jann