Vintage Orphan Blocks to Wall Hanging & Blocking

Vintage Orphan Blocks to Wall Hanging

A recent finish in the past weeks has made me really happy. I had these four orphan blocks for several years, and months ago put them together to form a larger piece. The original piecing was by hand and machine both, and a bit wonky. Remember everything in this era was cut with a pair of shears or scissors. The tiny squares came from a stack of precut solids, and I feel gave it a bit of a Mennonite feel. (Why Mennonite? Amish quilters didn't use prints.)

The finished top hung on my wall for several months while I waited for it to tell me what it needed. One morning I looked at it, and it said, "Simple." So it got simple quilting. With all the angles it benefitted from some round curves. I had it quilted in a few hours with a No. 5 pearl cotton in whatever pieces of leftover thread were in my box of strings. 

I squared and trimmed, and then I bound it only to find it didn't want to lay as flat as I'd preferred. It needed blocked. This is far simpler than you'd think. I spray it with water from a bottle until it was a bit past damp. Then using pins just inside the binding line I pinned it into a carpet and pad. It dried overnight, and I added the corner pieces and a center for a dowel rod to hang it with. 

It hangs square, and will be a fun wall hanging to hang on my mom's door where she lives now. If I had a wall hanging with corners that curled or an edge that was wavy, I might add a small fender washer to the lower corners. Nothing fancy. Just baste the washer to the corner or even a few inches up the sides where the waviness occurs. The waves may hang out and you could then remove the washers. 

So let's say, it's another Fun and Done!

Come on, Doxie girls.

Let's go sew.