Faux Vintage Quilt Fun

I adore vintage quilts. I have many, and love especially the ones that were sewn by my late grandmother and aunt. I have a few cutter quilts as well and I have no idea where I picked up this sweet old depression-era quilt remnant with colorful 2" floursack squares, but it’s been hanging around my life for years and it’s time I finally did something with it. It’s a bit grungy and pretty fragile, so I scanned it in sections, pieced it back together digitally to create what looks like an old postage stamp quilt and had some fun with it!

I printed out the quilt image onto plain paper and with my sewing machine stitched along the squares.With one 8.5" x 11" sheet and my pinking shears I was able to wrap these two altar candles (about $1 at the grocery store) and tie up with string and buttons. Please be sure you use extra caution with paper and string around lit candles!I also printed the image onto an inkjet T-shirt transfer for dark shirts and pressed that onto a piece of leather.Leather for crafting is so fun to work with and much easier to find than you might think. Just one thrift-store leather jacket (good condition, out of style) will be enough leather for many, many projects.I stitched along the squares and cut out sections to sew together creating pockets for business cards. Once stitched, I trimmed off the excess and rounded the corners.This card holder project is very easy and quick. Click to enlarge.
Grab this free quilt image, and another that I gave a border to and make something for yourself! Please note that the little quilt squares do not line up perfectly either on the real thing or as a digital image. I just wanted to point that out before you got cranky with me when trying to sew perfectly straight seams.Other stuff you can do with the quilt images:

Print to paper, run through your sewing machine if you like, and make:

• Scrapbooking backgrounds
• Covered gift boxes
• Small book covers
• Greeting cards
  

Reduce and print onto inkjet fabric sheets or transfer sheets for ironing on to fabric and make:

• Tiny bed quilts for dolls. Even tinier for doll houses
• Coffee cup cozies
• Coasters
• Zippered cosmetic bag
• Change purse

Or, keep it digital, and use it for something like a new blog header!