Yesteryear - Sis' Quilt

Before my vacation, I was doing a post series on my own collection  of old quilts. On vacation, I was talking to my mom about this series and she told me that my sister has an old quilt.  Sew. . . when we went to visit her, I asked about it.  Sis promptly pulled it out for me to see.

She told me that when she moved from her job at a mountain retreat camp to her coastal home, someone brought this quilt out to be used as padding for her furniture.  They no longer wanted it.  So sad . . . .

It's a beautiful handmade double wedding ring quilt with a hand bound edge.  It does have some wear, as seen here:

A few fabrics are deteriorating, with the padding protruding, but it is not extensive. I am so glad that this quilt was "rescued" by my sister and is now treasured.

P.S.  If anyone recognizes any of these fabrics, as to their era of age, please let me know.  Thanks!

P.S.S.  If you are interested in old quilts, check out my other Yesteryear posts!  Just put 'yesteryear' in the search box and it will pull up all the other Yesteryear posts.

Yesteryear - Old Quilt Collection vol.3

Today's quilt selection is near and dear to my heart. It is a heritage quilt, of sorts, since it is made by my husband's mother.  It is a traditional Grandmothers Garden Flower Quilt. My mother-in-law called it her "12 year quilt" because it took her twelve years to finish it!  She gave it to me, several years before she passed away.  I am not sure what year she finished it, but it is probably about 25-35 years old and I take extreme care to preserve it for future family members.

The hexagon piecing is all done by hand---and then it was hand quilted.  Some of the fabrics our daughter recognizes, as they are leftovers from fabrics that grandma made dresses for her and her sisters. (That makes some of the fabrics 40 years old--from the 70's!) When referring to certain hexagonal pieces, there is always the comment: "Ohhhhh, I remember this one!"  Those comments add to the value of the quilt in my eyes.

Each flower is different, each center a pale yellow, with all the flower blocks on a white background.

The quilt is on our bed during the summer months, since it is extremely lightweight.  I am not sure what kind of batting that she used, but it is very thin.  I just love it's light weight--perfect for hot summer nights.

You can see the hand quilting stitches in this photo.  I like looking at them and imagining my mother-in-law sewing on it every night.  (I'm not even sure that she sewed at night, but she was a busy lady and that's the way I imagine she spent her evenings--she loved to sew!)

Thanks, Sarah Pruitt, for this awesome gift!  

Love you! 

Yesteryear - Old Quilt Collection, vol. 2

The second old quilt in my collection was a castaway from a senior living resident.  He had several old quilts that his mother had made, and since he was downsizing, he wanted me to take several blankets including this particular quilt to the "Goodwill" or "just get rid of them".  I did.  I got rid of the quilt to my house! 

Although it has a few stains, and has deteriorating thread, I love the pattern and the hand work that it represents.  It has a white center with colorful fans and a wide blue band for a border and backing.  It is intricately quilted, which I love!!  I don't know if you can see the patterned quilting in this blue section, but if you click on the picture, it will open a window with a black background and maybe you can see it better.  The edging sports a quilted feather border with separate quilted section of braid creating a border around the white interior portion. 

Between and around each fan, there are quilt lines one inch apart creating small blocks, or diamonds.  You can see the cross hatched pattern better in this picture of the top.  The fans are stitched with a separate pattern.  

The fans with yellow centers, are quarter circle size and added in a different way than I have seen before--point to point. I call this quilt my "Kissing Fish" quilt. (Can you see them?)  Also top of the fan block is not circular, rather, it is pointed.   (I have some fans that a lady gave to me--not quilted--that I will show you in a later Yesteryear--Tuesday--post.  Watch for it! )

Kissing Fish

These last two pictures show the fabrics used.  They are obviously old, but not sure from what decade!  Anyone venture a guess?   

Next week, another old quilt!  It's a Grandmother's Garden pattern.  See you then, for another Yesteryear gem!

Yesteryear - Old Quilt Collection, vol. 1

Not only do I love to make quilts, I own three that are quite old.  Those of you who love quilts can appreciate the work that has gone into each of these hand pieced and hand quilted beauties.  

This first one is the oldest, although I'm not sure how old, nor am I sure of the patchwork block pattern name.  Anyone recognize this block? Maybe a variation of Flying Geese?

This quilt was purchased at a Missouri flea market from a woman who owned a bed and breakfast. It was being retired because of it's deteriorating condition. I don't know if she just used it for display or actually used it for bedding.  I admired it's hand work and recognized the old feedsack materials used.  The quilt backing is made of the original advertising logo white printed sacks (circa late 1800's to early 1900's),  with printed words and brands. Used before grain sack/bag makers started printing them with patterns (circa 1920's).  I couldn't get a good picture of the backing, since the words are pretty washed out.  I don't know if they were bleached for the making of this quilt or just worn away with age.

    

I have tried to research these fabrics, many of which are now quite faded, but I haven't been able to identify any of them as to decade. (Just got a reply from another collector who things these fabrics are from the 30's.) I think it would take an expert.   Anyway, I love this quilt and only have it for display purposes, now.

BTW, it is hand quilted about 1/4 inch on both sides of every seam. A common straight line way of quilting  to secure all the layers and prevent the seams from shifting.

Each Tuesday for a few weeks, I will be reviewing these old quilts from my collection.  I hope you will join me for the Old Quilt Collection series as I revive my earlier Tuesday article tradition: Yesteryear!

P.S.  Several other previous posts are available on Yesteryear topics--just enter "yesteryear" in the search box. See you next Tuesday! 

Book Review on Embellishments

I recently found a book that I recommend on quilt embellishment. Fabric embellishment has been one of my current interests, so much so that I have taken up art quilts and opened a new Etsy shop to showcase my little embellished quilts.  Embellishment provides character to the usual fabric patchwork design of quilts.

Gallery page from Quilt & Embellish in One Step

The book is Quilt & Embellish in One Step! by Linda Potter, published by C & T Publishing.   Ms. Potter gives simple instruction for hand quilting with perle cotton instead of regular quilting thread. Her method produces larger stitches than the regular hand quilted stitch.

The thicker twisted perle cotton is intended to be easier to use than embroidery floss and to sit on the top of the quilted surface as embellishment, instead of tightening the sandwich layer providing the usual quilted puffing.  Also, besides coming in a large selection of gorgeous colors, perle cotton has long staple cotton fibers that are sturdier for the constant use that a quilt gets; sturdier than some other yarns and threads. I have never tried hand quilting with perle cotton, but I want to.

Ms. Potter also uses applique as seen here (sorry for the lousy pictures, I still don't have a new camera!)

This concept, when applique or beading is added, is the essence of Ms. Potters style.  Her style is not especially abstract but what I love is it is:

non-traditional and creative!

If you are interested in embarking on the new adventure of quilt embellishment, you might want to add this book to your craft library. 

Linking today with Inspire Me Monday