The Generations Quilt: Project Meeting

Hello Friends and Welcome!

After the release of last week's Year in Review and Plans for the New post, I've been looking forward to jumping into each and every one of my winter projects!

Starting this year off the same way last year ended, I'll be continuing to share updates on an ongoing collaborative project, the Generations Quilt, which I started working on last fall with my Mother and Grandma!

Recently, I've been focused heavily on my own progress with this project; the colours and block arrangements I like, the blocks I've been piecing, and the methods I've been using. But in a collaboration, my own interests are not the only ones being represented and it's time to check in with everyone else!

During the last week of December, I got together with Mom and Grandma to see how each of them was progressing with the project. We discussed design, worked through concerns, and helped each other with cutting and piecing.

Today, I'm excited to be sharing some of the results of the time we spent together, the decisions we made, and the direction this project will be continuing!

Before We Began

Before our meeting, I had hoped each of us would have completed, or mostly completed, a few blocks to share with each other. That way we could work out any problems anyone was having with the pattern, templates, or chosen fabrics, and have the chance to experiment with our own block making styles before being too influenced by each other's choices.

I was able to bring four blocks each of the Dresden Plate and Six Pointed Star patterns, all of which have made appearances on the blog throughout the fall.

Mom also brought several completed blocks, mostly Dresden Plates but with a few Stars as well. Many of those were made using an assortment of scrap fabric, allowing her to test and get comfortable with the pattern.

She shared some of her plans for future blocks with us as well; she'd like to piece some blocks using fabric remnants from past projects. These fabrics remind her of the people she originally gifted the quilts to and always bring a smile to her face whenever she sees them!

Grandma made her progress in a slightly different way.

The Generations Quilt project is inclusive of four generations of my family, not just the three of us who are working on it now. My Great Grandmother, who made the original blocks this project is based on, passed away before completing the applique on all 20 of her Dresden Plate blocks, and Grandma volunteered to finish those blocks for us!

After working so hard on those blocks, Grandma didn't have time to piece any of her own leading up to the meeting.

That's where each of us was going in from; me, full of ideas and ready to keep creating; Mom, with a few blocks made and the glimmer of new ideas shining in her mind; and Grandma, working to finish what her mother hadn't been able to.

And of course, my Great Grandmother, who won't be contributing further, but left us with all the blocks needed to inspire this project in the first place!

Generations Quilt Discussion

Once we knew how far everyone had progressed on their own, we took some time to share our thoughts moving forward. Most of the following questions were emailed to Mom and Grandma ahead of the meeting to get them thinking, but others were brought up on the spot as we came up with new ideas!

While we may not have found an answer to everything, we were able to set some goals, voice our opinions, and make progress!

Pattern and Templates

My greatest concern at this point was ensuring that everyone was comfortable using the pattern templates I'd provided.

Back in October, I drafted the templates directly off of Great Grandmother's completed applique blocks. When I've made templates like this in the past, it has always been for my personal use, and if I had any problems, I would make a few simple adjustments and continue. Given that I've never distributed my templates for use by other people, I wanted to be sure that neither Mom nor Grandma was struggling to use them.

Mom had made several blocks using my paper templates without any problems, and although she hadn't made any blocks yet, Grandma understood how to use my templates and thought they would work quite well.

However, rather than using a paper template Grandma wanted to transfer it onto template plastic to use. This makes the template much more durable, making it last longer, and the transparent nature of the plastic allows for very precise cutting around different elements of the fabric's printed pattern.

Mom loved this idea as well, so we made them each a set of plastic templates. I will be continuing with the paper templates for a little while yet, but I might make a plastic set for future use, since I've really been enjoying working with these blocks!

Once she had a template she was happy with, Grandma began selecting and marking her fabrics, and Mom and I helped by cutting out the pieces while we continued our discussions.

Quilting and Background Squares

Although it may seem strange to jump from pattern templates right into quilting, it actually is an important element to consider at this time.

The blocks we are using for this project are both applique patterns. The process of appliqueing the pieced Plate or Star onto the background causes a small amount of shrinking and warping of the background fabric. Quilting also does this to a certain degree.

If we were quilting the Generations Quilts as completed quilt tops, this wouldn't be a problem, but I've been considering using quilt as you go to quilt the blocks before piecing them into a completed quilt. This means that the blocks need to start at a slightly larger size than we actually want them to finish to account for the possibility of shrinking.

We decided that cutting the backgrounds at 14" square should be enough to counteract any potential shrinkage. And later, if we end up deciding to fully piece the quilt tops first, rather than using quilt as you go, we can still cut the blocks down to the desired size.

As for the quilted motif, that will be up for discussion at a later time.

Block Centres

Another ongoing topic of debate has been whether or not to add centres to our quilt blocks.

Personally, I think the Dresden Plate blocks should have circular centres. In my mind, that's the classic look of a Dresden Plate. But Grandma disagrees because her Mother, my Great Grandmother, never included centres on her Dresden Plate quilts.

The opinions seem to be much more impartial for the Six Pointed Star blocks however; I am leaning more towards no centres, but an old quilt at Grandma's house, which I think was made by my Great Great Grandmother (I could be wrong) features the Six Pointed Star block with a small hexagonal centre.

All three of us agree that the blocks will look good whether we choose to include a centre or not, so this decision will be left until a later time. And as I've said many times before, the Generations Quilt project was always intended to produce multiple quilts, and each quilt can be totally unique; some with centres and some without.

Quantity of Quilts

Speaking of many finished quilts, we still need to decide exactly how many quilts we will be making.

After a very brief discussion, we ended up deciding to wait and see how many blocks each individual is able to make. After all, we can't make a quilt without first making the blocks!

Great Grandmother made 20 each of the Dresden Plate and Six Pointed Star patterns. Mom and I have agreed that that seems like a perfectly manageable number of blocks and plan to each match her 40 blocks.

Since Grandma hadn't started piecing her blocks at the time of our meeting, she didn't have a good idea of how long the blocks would take her to make or how strenuous the process of making them would be. We will be checking in with her in the spring to see if she also plans to match that number or if it's a little too ambitious for her.

And if it is too much, I'm happy to make up the difference between the number of blocks she does make and the total 40.

If all of us are able to make our 40 individual blocks, that would put us at 160 blocks total, which could be divided any number of ways into a variety of sizes and quantities of quilts.

While this hasn't been discussed with the group yet, I like the idea of dividing these 160 blocks neatly into 10 quilts at 4×4 blocks, a good size for a throw quilt. We will have to wait for another time to learn what Mom and Grandma think of this idea!

Undiscussed Ideas

After realizing that many of the final design decisions will revolve around the number of blocks we make and the way those blocks look when we finally see them all together, there were a few things we didn't end up discussing at all.

Those topics will come back around at a later time when we have a better understanding of exactly what blocks we have to work with, and I will really value their input when that time comes!

Getting together, the three of us had a very productive few days working on our individual contributions to the Generations Quilt, thinking about and planning for future design decisions, and getting to understand a little more about each other's unique perspectives on the project!

While not every question was answered at this meeting, I've really enjoyed hearing each of their thoughts on the project and will be considering their opinions as I continue working on my own blocks. I hope that both my Mother and Grandma feel the same way and I'm excited to see the blocks they will continue to make!

Although neither Mom nor my Grandma have a social media presence, you can keep up with my Generations Quilt progress between posts by visiting me on Instagram @vafibrearts.

And I love learning about what other makers are working on too! Feel free to tag me in any of your own posts, or to leave stories in the comments below!

I am very much looking forward to all the new ideas and progress this winter will bring, for the Generations Quilt as well as all my other projects, and I can't wait to get started!

Until Next Time Friends, Happy Quilting!

VA