Friday, September 27, 2019

Ella Maria Deacon


Woohoo -- I'm officially launching my 
Ella Maria Deacon project today!

  This wonderful antique friendship sampler quilt, dated 1842 and made for Ella Maria Deacon of Mount Holly, New Jersey, is in the textile collection at 
The Art Institute of Chicago.

I won't be attempting to do an exact recreation, but rather a "based on" version.  The antique quilt is very large, so in an effort to keep things manageable, I'll probably make less blocks than are included in the original.  At this point, I'm tentatively thinking about not including the broderie perse blocks, but we'll see.

This is a very major undertaking, and therefore I'm planning to keep the finished quilt for my own collection.  The predominantly red and green color scheme of the original will work well for me, since my house is red.  This is the starting selection of fabrics I've pulled from my stash, but this group will most certainly change and evolve as the project develops.

  My backgrounds will be an assortment of ivory/natural/muslin solids, again from stash.  The green print behind my blocks here is a possible choice for the setting triangles.  I haven't decided yet about a striped fabric for the sashing.

The pattern series is being offered by Gay Bomers of Sentimental Stitches.  Her pattern-writing style suits me very well, and I enjoy working from her writing.  The project includes 85 blocks. The patterns will be released 4 blocks per month, on the 15th of each month, running into 2021.  I'm looking forward to spending many pieceful hours with Ella Maria Deacon!

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5 comments:

Robin said...

This is wonderful and so ambitious. So - o - o many blocks.
I love the fabrics you have picked out. Look forward to seeing your progress.

NADINE said...

Oh WOW ! This is gonna be a heirloom, for sure.
And with your talent, I know it'll just be gorgeous.
I'm looking forward to Watch your progress and I wish you hours and hours of delight while making it :D

xoxo
NADINE

Libby in TN said...

Right up your alley!

Nancy said...

Congratulations on a wonderful new beginning! Your quilt will be beautiful, Jeanne, especially with the colors and fabrics you're beginning with. What a commitment and show of dedication to make a quilt with so many blocks.

Deb A said...

Thank you for the nice comment on my blog for my blue blocks. Your blocks are beautiful! I just finished block 3 - time to pick fabrics and prep block #4.