The Rescue Quilts – #2 – The Tumbler Quilt – Progress
The Rescue Quilt series is about finishing up quilt tops that were never completed and then remaking the pattern. Sometimes I find easier / modern ways to make the quilt pattern, and sometimes I change up the pattern a bit to freshen things up.
Sometimes I will offer the quilt pattern to you free, sometimes it will be a paid pattern in my pattern shop.
The goal is to honor the quilt maker who made the quilt top by completing their project, to not waste good craftsmanship (usually done by hand), to ogle long ago yummy fabrics, and to breathe in a little old inspiration and make it new again. You can view all parts of this series here.
Want to get started on finishing your own Rescue quilts? Here are a few articles to get you started:
how to clean them before working on them
Why you should label your quilt.
Also, check out this pinterest board of “Inspiring Vintage Quilts” and be sure to follow me there!
The Find
Now, this quilt is different, more different than my cat who will fetch any button I toss across the room. It’s a bit quirky.
If you remember from my last post about The Rescue Quilts, I had found this tumbler quilt and it was too skinny to be a quilt, so I had to add fabric to both sides, which I’ve done using Angela Walter’s Island Droplets in Sky.
I was very torn on what fabric to use for this, but I’m feeling alright with my choice. Something simple. Something low volume.
The rescued quilts are not always perfect. I find many flaws in many of them, but I feel like it all just adds to the charm. This is more about finishing something for another quilter than it’s about making something beautiful, but I find that finishing of it to be a beautiful thing of itself.
When I purchase these quilts, I’m not looking for perfection. I’m looking for something I find charming and something that I want to remake. I found seven other tumbler quilt tops unfinished here.
All that’s left now is basting, quilting and binding. So not much (insert sarcasm here).
My Tumbler Quilt
I am utterly in love with my own tumbler quilt. I’m more in love with this quilt than my hidden stash of M&Ms (I seriously have these hidden all over my house for quick gratification of my never dying sweet tooth). Digging through my orange scraps worked well for me this time. I’m always ridiculously amazed at what I find in the scrap bins. Where did these fabrics come from (in all honestly, I usually remember each and every one)?
I think this one is just romantic. There’s also some hidden gems in it that I’ll show you later.
I pulled fabrics from my orange bin, the blue bin, the green bin and the low volume bin (which is running mighty low. I’d like to restock with some of these.)
Y’all, it always feels so great to use up scraps and like I deserve some award for digging through piles of scraps looking for just the right ones. Obviously, using up scraps is it’s own reward. Still, I think I’ll just keep smiling and telling myself that I’ve done this great feat.
So some thoughts on tumbler quilts…. I was thinking, “Oh, Melanie! This will use so much scraps!” Or maybe something like, “this is gonna be awwwwesome!” But post tumbler quilt top Melanie knows that this quilt is a little son of a seam ripper to put together. You look at it and think that there are no “blocks”. You go straight to the design wall with this baby after cutting, but then it takes forevvvvvvvvver.
Still. It’s all love for me.
If you are looking to also use up baskets of scraps and piece skinny tumblers for hours, I have this pattern for free in a throw size here or if you need a different size or just more instructions, I have the full pattern for sale here in sizes crib – king.
If you are working on a tumbler quilt leave a link below or tag me on IG. I’d love to see!
Next on the Rescue quilt series: these two quilts all finished up.
