The Finiteness of Our Quilting Time

According to the Oxford Dictionary, the word finite is an adjective that defines someone or something as having limits or bounds, such as “My fabric stash is finite.”  It has its limits.  Something which is finite cannot go on indefinitely nor automatically replenish itself. 

Time is defined in Wikipedia as “The continued sequence of existence and events which occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future.”  We measure time by seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years, and centuries.  While time itself isn’t finite, we do put boundaries and deadlines on it.  Taxes are due by April 15. Christmas is December 25.  Your birthday date never varies.  Your age continues in sequence.  While time may continue long past our expiration date, the amount of time we’re allotted is finite. 

All of this musing about infiniteness of time and the finiteness of us brings me to this week’s blog topic:  If you could only make 15 more quilts in your lifetime, what would they be?  Besides the research in the definition of the words, I also casually polled a several of the quilt groups I quilt with.  I asked each member of the group the same question – If you could only make three quilts during the rest of your life (to shorten the response time I asked for three and not 15), what would they be?  I honestly believed some quilts would overlap.  I fully anticipated there would be overlaps of Dear Jane, Baltimore Albums, Caswell Quilt, or other popular quilt patterns.

Nope.

I honestly don’t believe (I didn’t keep notes with every group) the same quilt was mentioned twice – which totally ruined my original blog topic “The Quilts Everyone Wants to Make Before They Go to that Great Quilting Bee in the Sky.”  So what you’re getting from me this week are the quilts I want to make during the rest of my life.  There are fifteen.

• Love Entwined

I have actually started this quilt.  I have the center star completed and some of the applique prepped.  About the time I started this quilt, I had a trifecta of family health crisis, and it was set aside.  I have the fabric stored and I need to drag it back out and get busy. This is based on the 1790 Marriage Coverlet.  The original actually has no name and Love Entwined is Esther Aliu’s homage to the original.  If you’re interested, the pattern can be purchased from Esther’s website and there is a Block of the Month club on Facebook which will tackle this project in 2025. 

•  Sunbonnet Sue

This sweet girl with her big sunbonnet and perpetually positive attitude has been on my quilting radar since I began quilting in the early eighties.  I have the pattern, I have the fabric, and I really have to get started. 

•  If Mary Was a Quilter

I saw a picture of this quilt somewhere and it took my breath away.  The Madonna and the Christ-child, with the Child wrapped in a quilt.  This was one of those quilts I knew I had to make from the minute I saw the it.  I immediately began Googling the pattern, but was bitterly disappointed when I discovered it was out of print.  I casually mentioned this to my regular Tuesday night Sit and Sew, when my friend Karen suggested a store (in Ohio I think) which might carry it.  This wasn’t a quilt store, but kind of like a general mercantile shop.  Sure enough, a quick search on the store’s website yielded the pattern.  It’s laying on my cutting table…which is as far as it’s gotten since it arrived in the mail.

• City Sampler

This wonderful, small-block quilt is designed by Tula Pink.  I love Tula’s fabrics and have used them in many, many quilts.  However, this quilt caught my attention by the way she described it in the forward: 

“You will notice…that the blocks are not named but simply numbered. This is intentional. I may have designed the blocks and given you the instructions on what to cut and where to stitch, but I have not infused the blocks with any meaning. This is your quilt. The fabrics that you choose, the colors that you use and why you are making it are what will give the quilt a purpose. Name your blocks, write in the margins, cross out the ones that you don’t like, draw hearts around the ones that you love. In a perfect world, everyone’s book would end up looking like a journal, coffee stains and all. The more adventurous ones might rename the book and write their own introduction. Tula Pink’s City Sampler is a collaboration between you and me. I am the platform, and you are the speaker, so stand on my shoulders and tell the future who you are and why you make.”

This is a quilt which gives you a ton of freedom.  If you’re an advanced quilter, you can have a wonderful time changing up blocks and deciding which ones to make.  If you’re a newbie, the blocks are simple enough to allow you the same design choices an advanced quilter has, just on an easier scale.  With each block, you build confidence.  This is a stunning quilt, whether you make ten, 25, 50, or all 100 blocks.  The blocks are 6 ½-inches, which is one of the reasons it appeals to me, as I love small blocks.  I’m collecting gray and yellow fabrics for this one, and since the blocks are so small, I just need scraps (which I have plenty of), not yardage.

• The Bible Sampler Quilt by Laurie Aaron Hird

There are many Bible quilt patterns.  I like Laurie Hird’s pattern, primarily because I have made her Farmer’s Wife Quilt (the first one), and had a blast.  The blocks are small – 6 ½-inches unfinished.  However, the range of blocks makes this a fun sew.  Some of the blocks are easy and others will challenge even advanced quilters.  A CD comes with the book which contains the templates and the paper piecing patterns, so you do have a construction choice. 

•  Baltimore Rabbits

I love Baltimore quilts, and one has been on my quilting bucket list for nearly as long as I’ve quilted.  However, this whimsical take on bunnies added to the seriousness of a Baltimore quilt won my heart a long time ago.  For awhile the pattern was hard to find, but evidently it came back in print.  I purchased it this year and have a few fabrics ready to go.  It’s by Bunny Hill Designs.

• Hop to It

Edyta Sitar’s designs are yummy.  It’s difficult to resist any of her patterns.  Hop to It was published in 2009, so this is an early Sitar pattern.  I love the flowers and their settings in the blocks.  I have started this quilt.  I took an applique class with this pattern, but haven’t completed it yet.  I want to pull it out and finish it up.

• Vintage Valentine

I first saw this quilt years ago.  Stitchin’ Heaven introduced this pattern as a block-of-the-month a long time ago when I first began to applique.  While I adored the pattern, at that time in my life a block-of-the-month would put a serious dent in my budget.  So I added it to my “Want to Make” list and waited. 

Well, Stitchin’ Heaven decided to re-issue some of its favorite vintage block-of-the-months and this pattern was one of them.  I have almost all the blocks. It’s so sweet it makes your teeth hurt.

• Carolina Rose

This quilt literally snuck up on me.  While researching 1930 quilts and quilting publications, this pattern came up on my Google search feed.  I knew North Carolina had a star quilt block, but had no idea it had an applique quilt block.  These are very much like the Rose of Sharon blocks, which was on my Quilting Bucket List.  I just changed it to the Carolina Rose.  I have an outline of the block – applique pieces and a small placement diagram and was lucky to find these.

•  Country Inn

I’m oh-so-close to finishing this.  The blocks are appliqued, and I have begin piecing the quilt together.  I’m currently making the Dresden plates to go in the corners.  Many, many applique quilts are comprised of small pieces.  I love the boldness of this quilt – the large pieces and bright colors.  I think I’ll have a lot of fun quilting this one, too.

•  The Caswell Quilt

This pattern was drafted by Corliss Searcey from the Caswell Carpet (circa 1835) in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  I love the floral applique and the border treatment.  I have the pattern, and the reproduction fabric to construct the quilt.  Pinterest has loads of pins on this quilt in almost every conceivable colorway.   However, with the old-fashioned flowers, I think I want mine done in reproduction fabrics.  Now I just need the time to start this one.

•  The Minister’s Quilt

This quilt was introduced to me through The Applique Society.  We’re working on this as a block of the month, receiving five blocks per month. It is designed by Veronique of Waddlebird Designs.  The pattern is an authorized reproduction of an antique quilt held at the Historic Huguenot Street.  It does remind me a great deal of the Caswell Quilt.  The quilt pattern is available through Veronique’s website, Waddlebird.com.  The blocks are downloadable.

•  Poinsettia Bouquet

This is a Judy Niemeyer pattern.  While I love Judy Niemeyer patterns – it was by working my way through Blazing Star that I came to my Zen with paper piecing – I can’t do more than one every two or three years.  She’s just one of those designers I have to be in the mood for to make one of her quilts.  I do like this pattern very much, though.  It’s a bit different from Judy’s other patterns and I think it’s an unusual Christmas quilt.  I have the pattern, not the fabric, and this will probably be my swan song as far as Judy Niemeyer patterns go.

•  Sunflowers

I love 1930’s quilts by Marie Webster.  I love the fact she gives wide open spaces for quilting and gorgeous applique that’s not too fussy.  And since sunflowers are one of my favorite flowers, this quilt is just perfect for me.  As much as I adore 1930’s applique, it’s only fitting I make this quilt and…

•  Orange Blossom

One of my favorite quilting colors is orange.  I have no idea why.  I don’t use orange in any of my home dec.  I don’t wear orange – I look horrible in it.  But I do like orange in my quilts.  Anything from cheddar to pumpkin is my friend.  So I need to make this Mountain Mist 1930’s quilt.  I love the area available for quilting and the teal swags which perfectly off-set the oranges.  This quilt is primarily quilting, not applique.  It wouldn’t take long to construct, but it might take a bit to quilt. 

What’s on your quilting bucket list?  Do any of ours overlap?  Time itself may be infinite, but our own time is finite.  I think it’s a good idea to have a list of quilts we really want to make and work on those.  We can certainly add others too, but if you’re like me, there are a few quilts you really want under your needle before our finite time is up.

Until Next Week, From My Studio to Yours,

Love and Stitches,

Sherri and Felix