Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Darn it Mr. Lincoln

Hi everyone from super hot NJ.  I usually spend a lot of summer hours sewing, but I haven't gotten in the groove yet this year, but here is what I'm working on today - Mr. Lincoln.

I'm old school.  I sketch, cut, audition, etc.  How do you design?  EQ?  The old fashioned way?  I think it's so interesting.

Here are my sketches for my Lincoln Challenge quilt that I'm doing with Jill and Susan.

Version I

Version II


The current version that I'm working on


Here are some blocks that I'm making.


And it took 2 sketches with notes to figure out the size I wanted.  I'm a very visual learner.  I don't even know what some of these notes mean now...

In a previous post there was a picture of this in the background and Quilt Hollow asked me about this collection.  These are darning eggs, used to darn sock and other garments.

Here are some of my favorites:
The bobber

Fancy silver handled darner

Pretty inlaid wood
This one has a light and dark side, to use on light or dark socks.  The handle is used for darning gloves.

These are marked "Dec. 18 1900" and have a metal ring for holding the item in place.


 An assortment of thimbles -

They need a little cleaning, the tiny one is from my mothers' Monopoly game from the 1950s.


What are you up to?






21 comments:

Lori said...

I'm not good at designing so I leave it to someone else.
I love your indecipherable notes!!!

What an adorable collection!!!

Crispy said...

I'm an EQ'er all the way. I can barely draw a straight line with a ruler LOL.

The thimble has always been my favorite Monopoly piece :0)

Crispy

Meredith said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Em said...

I love love you showing your sketches. I was at lunch with my husband yesterday and he and my son were sketching and we were talking about how fun it is to keep them and look at them years later. I love how you carefully hold your collection in the photos. I am up to.... CELEBRATING YOU!

Diane said...

I'm up to practically having an orgasm from the items in this post! What wonderful treasures.

Jan said...

I'm intriqued! Your starter blocks are great, as are the fabric combinations. Keep us posted!

janet said...

Like you, I am old school and sketch out my designs. I like to sit outside when it's nice and play with ideas this way.

Love your collection of darning eggs and thimbles! I just adore useful antiques, they are fun to look at and to use:)

Teresa Rawson said...

I'm such a moron...I remember the picture with your collection in the background and I thought they were morocco's (percussion instruments...). What can I say...I'm a musician!

Even better now that I know they are darning eggs...how cool is THAT!!

I usually kick it old school...graph paper, lots of scribbling and figuring the math. A couple of friends and I are thinking about publishing some patterns together so I do use a couple of computer programs for doing the graphics when I write patterns.

I'm so frickin' old-fashioned sometimes that I practically card my own raw cotten for batting...

Love the looks of your Lincoln challenge...

In stitches,
Teresa :o)

Sandra Henderson said...

Love your blocks so far and your ideas. You are smarter than I am. I just start cutting and go! lol
It's all like a puzzle to me. In fact, I am posting the progress of a quilt I'm making again and it's a great challenge to "put it all out there" w/no idea what the end result will be. Tell me about these fabrics please, I've not seen this line....I live on an island. :)

Thimbleanna said...

Oooh, I'm salivating over your thimbles! That Lincoln quilt is going to be beautiful -- I plan quilts the way you do -- on paper with lots of scribbles. You cracked me up when you said..."I don't even know what some of these notes mean now..." -- I feel your pain LOL!

libbyquilter said...

i'm definately in the "old school" camp. love to doodle out all of the details and like you, i often can make no sense whatsoever of the cryptic notes i make in the margins if i wait to long to get back to them . . . i quite frequently set the plan aside and decide on new directions as a project begins to come together and "tell" me what to do next . . . is this an official sign that i'm certifiably crazy? lol

the darning eggs are fascinating and you have quite a collection of them~!~love the thimbles too~!

thank you for your recent visit to my blog and the comment. today i've taken a lot of time to just sit and breathe . . . hope to be back on track soon.

:-)
libbyQ

Karen said...

I do a little bit of this and a little bit of that when designing. Sometimes paper and pencil, some on EQ, some in my mind (well, maybe a lot in my mind), and some just as I go.
I love your darning egg collection. I was one that asked you about them. You have quite a variety and some very, very interesting ones. I didn't realize they came in so many shapes. I wonder how long it has been since someone actually used a sock darner. I wouldn't know how to begin to use one. I assume they must have been used for wool socks.

antique quilter said...

give me graph paper and a sketch pad and I am happy!
or just make blocks and put them on the design wall!

love those thimbles!

this is the first time I have seen a darning egg collection! amazing!
very fun to see
thanks
kathie who can't take the heat at all this year and no power on Tuesday for 12 hours in 100 degrees was not fun

YankeeQuilter said...

Give me a pad of graph paper and some colored pencils and I am a happy quilter...or quilt planner...whatever!

Janet said...

My notes and sketches start off pretty rough but I do like the pencil and paper way. Your collection is amazing, I've never seen anything like it, I'm glad you shared.

Kristy said...

Loved seeing parts of your awesome collections. I too am visual, so the pix are perfect for me!

Ann Champion said...

I sketch things out, very much like you. I was relieved to see that I'm not the only one who jots down notes during a flash of brilliance and have no idea what I meant when I go back later and read them. LOL I really like what you have sketched out..and the blocks you have done.
It was a treat to see your darning eggs. You have such a nice variety.
When I was in high school my older Brother brought me a grocery sack full of socks that needed mending. He paid me 5¢ for darning each sock! Makes me laugh now. ;)

Barb said...

You design like I do...but the actual layout of the quilt is in my head....

I loved your post....truly loved it.

QuiltSue said...

I love your new header.

Leslie said...

I'm with Karen, sometimes I doodle with pencils, draft color and lay out in EQ, dash off the math in odd moments on the backs of envelopes or scrap paper as needed - and then can't understand it later - but it served it's purpose. I thought about keeping a notebook of sketches and math notes, but decided the photo essays on my blog are good enough.

Martha said...

I use your method -- your quilt sketches look very similar to mine.

I love your darning eggs -- I have one of those plain black ones from my grandmother, but you've managed to find some really interesting ones. Thanks for showing them.