Rail Fence....2001, 2003, 2005

This post is about 3 different Rail Fence Quilts that I made. The first one is our bed quilt. It is HUGE and I don't know why I made it so big! We have a queen size bed and this is easily king size and didn't need to be. I added large borders to make it bigger (for some idiotic reason that now escapes me!) Getting one of the deeper mattresses and box springs has helped, but it still drags the floor. Rail Fence is a great beginner pattern. This was one of my earliest bed quilts and I needed easy! It is just strips of fabric sewn together and then cut into squares.
I chose the fabric from the colors in this wallpaper border. They are not colors I would normally choose and I had a hard time coming up with 7 different ones I liked going from light to dark.

I had it machine quilted by a local quilter....Kathy M. She did a very nice job! I added that little extra border on two sides because I had the left over pieces from cutting the squares and it seemed like a good idea at the time.

These wide borders were a big mistake. Beginner's ignorance :-) I should rip the binding loose and cut a bunch off, but I'm too lazy to go back to a long finished project.

I did not know how to putting binding on....that is how new I was! My sister Marge was visiting for my daughters wedding (2 days before 9/11) Since she was stuck in Evansville for a week before she could fly home, she showed me how to put binding on and we sat in my front yard and sewed it down while listening to the radio. No one took a picture of us, but here she is at my other sister's house working on an afghan. Marge not only taught me a lot of things, she provided most of my tools.....cutting table, mat, ruler, rotary cutter! I made this top in 2000 and got it bound in 2001.

My second Rail Fence was for a good friend who wanted a lap quilt. I call this one Betty's Blues because she loves blue! I tied this one.

She provided me with these pictures for my files. This one was in 2003.

The third one, I call "Blackberry Tea". I had made the top and was trying to sell it. My nephew was getting married in 2005 to a very lovely Korean girl and my sister, Dorothy wanted a handmade quilt to send to Abi's mother in Korea. She liked this top and bought it from me (My "wealthy patron", she is the only one who ever bought much of my stuff.....another story!) She bought a satin like fabric for the back and had someone in Tucson machine quilt it. Then she brought it back here on a trip to visit me.

This time Mike took a picture.......Dorothy and me binding the edges while enjoying the outdoor air. I love to work outdoors, except for rounding up all the stuff I need and carrying it out there!

This pattern is a very easy beginner quilt and can be arranged in different ways for different looks. I have made quick baby quilts using this pattern, too.