Friday, August 7, 2009

Redwork without the work

I have collected a few red and white fabrics recently, and have plans to make a red and white quilt.  Oftentimes I see red and white quilts combined with redwork, but I didn’t see myself actually doing any redwork embroidery.
Today, while at a quilt show, there was a whole vendor’s booth devoted to redwork and bluework of all kinds.  A closer look revealed that they were selling pre-embroidered redwork squares.  I bought a package of six 5-inch squares with birdhouses as a theme.  This is the pattern that caught my eye:
redwork house 1
This was another one I really liked:
redwork house 2
Here’s the set of 6, and how they looked mixed in with some red/white fabrics:
redwork set of 6
I would like to make a small wallhanging, inspired by this quilt called “"Redwork Dreams” that was in Quiltmaker in the Fall of 2008.
Redwork dreamsHere is the craziest thing about me planning to make a redwork quilt.   A few years ago our quilt guild had a challenge where we had to use a technique or style that was assigned to us.  Various quiltmaking techniques and styles were written on paper and we had to draw one from a hat.  I picked “redwork”, but it was something that I had never done.  To be honest, it seemed a little unbalanced that some people got styles like “log cabin”  or “1930’s reproduction”  which may have posed a design challenge, but did not require them to learn how to do hand embroidery.   Sad to say, I totally embraced my inner wimp and ended up not entering the challenge.  But now, with these pre-embroidered squares, I can have a little redwork quilt to enjoy.

9 comments:

  1. Well, you're all set and on the way to making a great wallhanging! Can't wait to see it completed.

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  2. Those blocks are cute, are they hand done or machine (not that it matters- just curious) I can't imagine selling just the blocks.

    I have made a couple of kids quilts using crochet thread and it works up pretty quick. Gives a primitive look to the embroidery.

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  3. I love redwork the designs are so cute .

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  4. Those little birdhouse blocks are so cute. I enjoy the embroidery. I have some blocks I am working on now and I have some old redwork blocks that I would love to make into a quilt someday. Have fun.

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  5. I think it's great that you were able to find those cute blocks at the quilt show. I'm feeling quilt show deprived right now since there hasn't been any around here lately. Can't wait to see your quilt. Karen

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  6. Love the blocks. Your inspiration quilt is stunning.

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  7. That's amazing that someone would sell hand embroidered redwork squares. They're so much work! Great find and your quilt will be beautiful.

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  8. Good idea. I've seen them here for baby quilts, but not as redwork. Enjoy. Lane

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  9. Those are such sweet birdhouses, it is going to be such a pretty quilt

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