Sunday, May 2, 2021

Quilts and Classics: Basket Weaving/1953 Chevy Tin Woody

My cousins, Terry and Cathy, know several people who have cars that ended up in this calendar.

Last year, on a beautiful day at the end of April, we ventured to their house for a photo shoot. We were still fairly new to life under lockdown due to the pandemic. Would it be safe to be around people, even though we were outside? Could we safely use the bathroom in their house before we made the trip home? So many unknowns. But by six weeks into the shutdown, we craved conversation beyond just the two of us. 


 The car is a beauty.  Taking pictures at  Smokin' Possum Farms, Terry and Cathy's house, was the perfect backdrop. And I'll warn you right now, this will be the most picture-heavy post of all the quilts and classic cars because I handed my phone over to Shannon, Terry and Cathy's daughter-in-law, a professional photographer.  And believe me when I tell you that this is just a fraction of the photos that Shannon took. So many that her husband, Travis, decided to just take a rest on the other side of the car. Ha!

So here we go:

















The quilt itself, Basket Weaving, was something I have dreamed about for years. A long time ago, I bought yards of a fabric that looked like a woven baskets. At the same time, I began collecting basket blocks, but rather than standard basket blocks, I tried to find unusual blocks. For a long time I couldn't decide what fabric to use for the flowers themselves. I finally settled on prints by Alison Glass as the blocks were so dissimilar so it was nice to have some fairly unifying prints for the flowers.

Pattern: Sunday Best, Quiltworks, 2017
Pattern: Summer Love, Bonnie Olaveson, 2018
Pattern: Flower Basket, Fussycutter Quilt Kits, 2014
Pattern: Cindy's Basket, designed specifically for this quilt by Kerry Gulder @kidgiddy, 2019
Pattern: Ombre' Flower Bouquet, Vanessa Christenson, 2019
Pattern: Piecemeal Quilts, Sandy Walton, 2009
Pattern: Hanging Baskets, Sandee Wachal, McCall's Quilting, 2005
Pattern: Sunday Best, Quiltworks, 2017
Pattern: VIVA! My Friends, Fusako Nakamura, QNM, 2003. I almost didn't make this one because of the hand appliqued handle, but I'm so glad I included it.
Pattern: Piecemeal Quilts, Sandy Walton, 2010

I paid no attention to the size of the blocks, but then realized several were quite small compared to the larger blocks. I didn't want them to get lost, so I chose to add some pieced segments.
Pattern: Prairie Star Basket, Judy Martin, 1998
Pattern: Pinwheel Basket (found on Instagram, designer unknown)

Pattern: Quilty Basket, Julie Sanders, Quiltmaker, 2015
Pattern: Cathedral Window, Barbara Campbell, QNM 2010


The quilting was a gorgeous design that has a custom feel to it, done by Darby of @quiltedsquid.

One afternoon,I took it to Tagua, a local fair trade shop that supports artisans in developing countries by selling their handmade crafts. They had a display of beautiful baskets.
It was fun trying to match the baskets with the quilt blocks.
Pattern: Seminole Basket, Karen Boswell, QNM, 1991





I'm so glad that my collection of basket block patterns finally became a sampler quilt, one that I really love.

7 comments:

05 08
quiltingbydawn said... #

Wow! Such pretty baskets! I love that basket weave fabric! Perfect! And your photo shoot is amazing...both the antique car and all the colorful baskets! 🧺

Kathryn said... #

I love your vision for this quilt.

Rochelle aka Bella Quilts said... #

The story behind this quilt is amazing. I love the way your baskets came together and the choice of fabrics for continuity. The photo shoot story is quite interesting as well. Having a volunteer professional photographer was quite the thing.

Susan said... #

I've longed to make another basket quilt. The first one I made is quite old fashioned in its fabric choice. But yours is modern with its happy colours and interesting placement. As always, the car photos are great! And the basket with the woven handle is wonderful!

Anne / Springleaf Studios said... #

Wonderful background story. I think it's fun when that stashed fabric finds a perfect project. Great photos too. I also really like the pics with the baskets.

Robby said... #

An epic quilt deserves an epic amount of photos! It's so clear this was a passion project for you. I asked a photographer friend one time if he had any tips for getting good shots, telling him I tend to take a lot and hope for the best. He laughed and assured me taking tons of shots is the way to go because, you never know which ones you'll love until later. Looks like you and Shannon got this one just right.

OPQuilt said... #

I loved this post, as I've wanted a closer look at this basket quilt for a while. I appreciate all the details you gave us and as a quilt-lover, I enjoyed all the photographs! You did such a lot of work on this, and it really such a beautiful quilt with great small and large details. Hooray for a classic car with a quilt!