Kansas Dugout Quilt
I fell in love with this quilt when I first saw it in McCall’s Vintage Quilts (Fall, 2002). It was made with feedsacks and I loved them. Also, since I grew up in Oklahoma and Kansas, the name appealed to me. My older sister gave me a few feedsack scraps, but I wanted more….lots more. Fortunately, there are quite a few collectors who sell assortments of 6″ squares so I started purchasing these at quilt shows, web sites and ebay. The quilt required over 1,000 of the elongated hexagon pieces. I didn’t manage to collect quite that many, and since I am the impatient type, I substituted some other vintage fabrics that I thought suited the quilt. Because of all the set-in pieces, this quilt was hand pieced and then hand quilted inside each piece. I don’t usually copy quilts exactly the way I did here (although my blocks are quite a bit smaller), but I just had to use a purple. It may be my most garish quilt — I didn’t pay too much attention to matching colors or anything — but I like the look.
Kansas Dugout
Martha Dellasega Gray, 2003
hand pieced, hand quilted
70″ x 80″
McCall’s Vintage Quilts
Fall, 2002
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LynnS wrote,
Some quilts not only steal your attention but they tug at the heartstrings. This is one of those quilts…..
This is a festive quilt that fabric lovers would enjoy ‘meeting’. I would love to sit with this quilt, to feel the life you gave it. What a beauty. There is such variety in the fabrics you have used! And the edging! Lovely!!
Link | January 4th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Coralie Johnson wrote,
This is a gorgeous quilt! The vintage colors and prints are so special and your stitching is amazing! What a fabulous keepsake!
Link | January 6th, 2009 at 12:09 pm
Alison Marie wrote,
That’s funny – I don’t think it’s garish at all! And I think all your fabrics together look wonderfully period-appropriate. It’s a fabulous quilt!
Link | April 7th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
Sew,Mama,Sew! Blog » » August 4 ~ Hand Sewing Photo of the Day wrote,
[...] has more views of the quilt in her blog post about the piece on Q is for Quilter. She also has a truly outstanding collection of quilts in her Flickr stream. Martha writes, [...]
Link | August 4th, 2009 at 8:17 am
donnag wrote,
I love your Kansas quilt. The colors are just beautiful and the stitching is delicious.
Link | August 4th, 2009 at 11:27 am
Chrisi wrote,
I think your quilt is much prettier than the McCall’s picture. I love the fabrics you used.
Link | August 14th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
Carolyn Estell-Kelley wrote,
BEAUTIFUL! I pieced this quilt back in the late 60′s-early 70′s when I was just a young teenager. My mother and I visited one of her dear friends who lived in the community on a regular basis and she was always doing crafts, knitting, crocheting and such; and on one occasion we visited and she was piecing a quilt. I picked out this pattern from her book; and both she and my mother gasped because they thought it was too tedious to fool with(as we use to say in the country) for such a young girl. I think I was about 13-14; just learning to hand sew. I use to watch my mother and a lady we adopted as our aunt quilt with quilting horses. I fell in love with it at first sight and never forgot the name. I used old clothes and cloth that was lying around the house; so you can guess what that was like. Thank you for putting this up; it is absolutely beautiful. I kinda got misty eyed thinking about my mom having such patience with me piecing this quilt. That quilt was around a long time; and I remember seeing it gradually turn to rags from the washings and use. It lasted a long time. My mom died in ’73 and that quilt lasted a long time after she was gone. Thank you for sharing and many blessings to you.
Link | September 4th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
Carolyn J Chatham wrote,
I was lucky enough to have a mother – in – law (my 2nd mom) who has given me her mother’s stash of flour sack bags. The were already taken apart and washed and some starched. I started a Dresden Fan but cut some of the blades the wrong size. The blades would make a circle the size of a truck tire. I could probably resize them but hate to waste that much fabric. If you would be interested in receiving these (freebie), drop me a line, or post a response to this comment
Link | June 10th, 2010 at 10:00 am
liz wrote,
i love your kansas dugout quilt i did one in blue and cranberry. really came out nice. is there a way we could share our quilts. could i post mine out there somehow
Link | June 13th, 2010 at 7:02 am
Jenny wrote,
Hi
I would like to start by saying how much I admire your embroideries.
I belong to a group that makes quilts for Project Linus and organisations for disabled children. We make textural quilts for children who are blind or partially sighted but have found that they love embroidered quilts as they can ‘read’ the pictures by running their fingers over outline embroideries. Unfortunately the problem we have is obtaining patterns, not having had much luck with colouring books and being useless at drawing, and would like to know if you sell your patterns and if so, is there a supplier in the uk.
I look forward to your reply
Jenny
Link | February 17th, 2011 at 1:24 am
susan wrote,
this quilt is gorgeous! i love your colors. its much prettier than the magazine one. i would really love to make this quilt but i am having a hard time finding a copy!
beautiful!!
Link | January 14th, 2012 at 8:05 pm