Reproduction Quilt from Red and White Exhibition

I have been wanting to do some quilting for so long this year, but it just seemed like I was too busy. I finally decided I was going to have to make some time to do it.  I spent too much time on Pinterest, looking at quilts. Each day, I would find one or two quilts that made me want to drop everything and start that quilt.  I didn't, of course, I wouldn't have had the time to make all those quilts. I don't make a quilt in a day, no matter how simple it is.


Sometimes, I even put the quilt as a desktop image.  This is the quilt that is on my desktop image now:
http://limilee.tumblr.com/post/12514034308/red-and-white-quilt-from-infinite-variety

It is a red and white quilt from the Infinite Variety exhibit from the American Folk Art Museum.  I've been wanting to make a red and white quilt after seeing all those gorgeous photos of all those red and white quilts.  It only has two fabrics and is a simple courthouse square.  And as a bonus, I have solid red and white fabrics.

I decided to go ahead and make it. Yes, quilting has occurred here on the High Road.  There are only two pieces of fabric, so I don't have to rummage through all my fabric scraps and be reminded of all the unfinished projects I have in the quilt room.  And I can quickly get out before I realize that I really need to finish cleaning the quilt room.
Here's the progress thus far:

I decided that instead of making a square, I would prefer a rectangle. I trimmed off just a bit from the center to make it rectangular. My daughter said it looks like an "O". I like that. It looks like the Ohio State University symbol. Go Bucks!

I am happy that it still looks like an O for Ohio State. I really like the red on the outside and plan to end with a red round and red binding.  Since all the rounds are being added to one piece, this quilt would work well with another quilt as a Leader and Ender.  Unfortunately, I don't have another quilt set up, and I don't want to go through the sewing room again. I am trying to reduce the number of times I have to run my scrap through the machine though.

The original has more rounds, and there is plenty of fabric left. They were big pieces and I chopped off a little bit to use - about a quarter yard's worth. While taking a break from this quilt, I came across a Quilt Cam that Bonnie Hunter had recorded.  She answered a question from one of her viewers about the backing fabric.  She recommended not starting in the center and working around and around, saying that it would require measuring again and again after each round.  Yes, Bonnie I know exactly what you mean. I am cutting one round at a time to make it easier to keep track of the pieces.

 

Even though it is tempting to stop after a few rounds, the zing that happens at the diagonals doesn't really happen until quite a few rows have been made. I don't like the pulling that is happening, but hopefully it will be fine after it has been quilted down.

That's all the progress from yesterday.  I still have to decide how many rounds I want to add.  I want a small quilt, but one with impact. Writing this post, I looked up where I got the original quilt, and since it is from the Infinite Variety exhibit, I am going to call this quilt Infinite, because of the number of rows.