Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Broken Dishes

I have a long, sporadic history of making pieced cotton pillow covers and quilts. I made my first quilt in 1977. In the early 1990s I happened to flip through a copy of A Treasury of Amish Quilts by Rachel and Kenneth Pellman in a fabric store. Inside those pages I discovered the Amish quilt pattern called Broken Dishes, and I've been fascinated by it ever since. I love the straightforward, graphic use of solid colored cotton fabrics that Amish quilt makers employ. And Broken Dishes is barely a pattern at all - the order of the triangles is the only requirement. The color arrangement is random - or so it seems. As you can see below, I made considerable effort to orchestrate the arrangement for this pillow.


Here are the triangles, cut from 2" squares, laid out on the counter. I spent quite a bit of time moving them around until I was satisfied.


The finished top. I think I managed to keep all but one row in the desired order! I adore the fact that a mistake like getting the pieces out of order is easily incorporated into the whole.


Here's the cover stuffed with a 20"x20" down & feather pillow insert. Hey, what's that black fuzzy thing on the right side?


Oh . . . it's my little helper, Miss Bettie!

This pillow was a gift for my dear friend D. It looks really nice on the blue couch in her office.

8 comments:

paula said...

Beautiful Susan! I love that you showed the piece in process.

Green Key said...

Thanks Paula!

Deborah said...

And I am the lucky recipient!! It is so cheerful; I look at it all day! Thank you again, my friend.

Green Key said...

I'm so glad you like it Deborah! You're so welcome.
:-)

Sally Parrott Ashbrook said...

Gorgeous pillow. I love quilts.

And homemade, heartfelt gifts from friends are always treasures.

Green Key said...

Thanks Sally! Nice to see you again. :-)

::eliza jane:: said...

ooooo love. i think i remember a lovely quilt you made once. i'm making a similar pillow with vintage fabric with my grandmothers quilting scraps.

Green Key said...

Hi Eliza! Thanks. Yes, Gary & I made a quilt using this pattern for Ananda that used similar colors. It's on her guest bed. I'm sure you've slept under it!