Thursday, January 24, 2013
Blast from the Past - Beaded Curtain
I've made a couple of retro inspired quilts this fall. The first one, Beaded Curtain, is in the January/February issue of Quilty. It was such a pleasure to work with fellow Chicagoan, Mary Fons and her team.
Beaded Curtain was inspired by my "wanna be a cool kid" days in the 70's. The cool kids had all those mod, groovy clothes and rooms. I wasn't cool, but I could decorate my room that way and try my best, so I hung those great strings of beads in my closet door and every time I swept them aside to go in and grab some bellbottoms I imagined myself as a slick hippie chick.
This quilt is a simple twist on a traditional snowball block. The variation in the sizes of the beads, the use of rectangles instead of squares, and the different lengths in the bead strings gives this quilt the quirkiness that I like.
I used those classic 70's colors of brown and orange and pulled out some of my very favorite prints to put in the quilt.
I found this amazing orange animal print and this retro Jackie Shapiro print on my trip to Colorado this summer. The quilting is perfect to add to the "blast from the past" feel of this quilt. Beaded Curtain will find its way to some child waiting for a quilt. It's so soft and cuddly and big!
Be sure and pick up a copy of the magazine. Several of my Chicago MQG peeps are featured in this issue. Tricia, my downstairs neighbor, is pictured with her amazing quilt. It's a good read!
This is fun! A nice way to show off some larger scale prints too.
ReplyDeleteI had a beaded curtain in my room as a teen. I loved it. What a cool blast from the past. This is a beautiful quilt and I'll be looking for the magazine.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great quilt! Love it.
ReplyDeleteThat is way cool!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations Jacquie - great quilt.
ReplyDeleteOh, go on girl! Great quilt Jacquie, far out man! Your stacked shapes also remind me a bit of traditional middle-eastern patterns (rugs, mosaics, stuff like that). My P's lived at the Air Force Base in Turkey for a few years before I was born, so we had LOTS of decoratively patterned stuff throughout the house! But, I digress...can't wait to get my copy of Quilty in the mail, I just placed my order.
ReplyDeleteXOXO
we need a "love" button -- pretty damn cool!
ReplyDeleteLove the quilt, Jacquie! Isn't it hard to give them away???Hope I can get the magazine here...Thanks!
ReplyDeleteGreat timing! I've been searching for a suitable pattern for a quilt for my daughter. She had a 'thing' for beaded curtains, and your pattern is a good way to show off the printed fabrics that I've collected. Now to track down the magazine.
ReplyDeleteOh, I love it! In my hippy days I had a beaded curtain on just about every door in my house! It's just perfect!
ReplyDeleteI love this! You have a great style.
ReplyDeleteYour "Bang You're Dead" quilt was very poignant as well, I didn't feel like I could comment when I first saw it. I don't think I'd be able to complete a powerful piece like that.
This is wonderful, I love it, and it completely captures the beaded curtains. I'm crazy about the way the solid complements the colors. Would you say what solid it is?
ReplyDeletesure, jenny. the background of this quilt is carolina chambray in natural. the chambrays are a bit hard to find, but they're made by robert kaufman and are cross woven. they're very soft and lovely to work with.
ReplyDeleteBeaded curtains are slightly before my time :) but I always wanted one as a little girl after seeing them in the movies/on TV. I guess I'm a little jealous that you had one. This quilt look amazing in Christmas colors.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous, Jacquie! See you at the Con!
ReplyDeleteI picked up this magazine yesterday - at WalMart of all places!
ReplyDeleteI don't buy too many magazines these days, but I was certainly drawn in when I saw your name on the cover! :)
The quilt is lovely, of course!
Sew Groovy! (*see Peter Max "LOVE" symbol*). My friend lived in a tree house in Mendocino, CA. I visited her on the weekends. On Saturday nights the popular thing to do was a communal bath at the yurt... lots of beaded curtains there.
ReplyDeleteanother goodie! i loved beaded curtains - my mother had tons of wood beads for her macrame phase and we even had a little bead curtain for the cat box at one point!!! :-)
ReplyDeleteVery groovy!
ReplyDeleteThis iis a great pattern Jacquie and I love the quilting that you used. I can imagine this in all kinds of fabrics.
ReplyDeleteGreat quilt, and you are right; I have to have that magazine!
ReplyDeleteReally cool and very fun! You are definitely hip!
ReplyDeleteThat is a beautiful quilt!! I really like the patterns that Quilty publishes!
ReplyDeleteI love this quilt!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to look for this magazine.
My sister had beads on her door, it was an alarm system of sorts to tell her when I would try to sneak into her room. After I figured that out I would slide on the floor underneath them. I like your beads much better than hers.
What a fantastic design - I think my daughter would just love it. Aren't the chambray's just buttery soft? Love them. I really wish they were more readily available.
ReplyDeleteIt turned out well, Jacquie! Love your fabrics!
ReplyDeleteI JUST bought this magazine today! I was at a store I am never in and was perusing the magazines and thought 'I've never seen THIS magazine before!' but it had your name on it so I thought I'd buy it. I like ALL the quilts in it. It's pretty slick!
ReplyDeleteCool and groovy and still very modern quilt!
ReplyDeleteGosh, and now to try to prove I'm not a robot, it is a challenge :)
Fantastic quilt! Maybe you weren't cool back then , but you are now!!
ReplyDeleteGreat quilt! I just love those longer shapes. Great colors too!
ReplyDeletelove this quilt - its on my list - and I just won a copy of your book so I'm pretty happy about that - I'm sure my quilt wish list will outgrow my UFO list very soon !
ReplyDeleteOh, the beaded curtain makes a showing!
ReplyDelete