Our family went on a little road trip south, in search of warmer weather. I'm happy to say that we were successful. :) I found a gem of a quilt at an antique store in Missouri. It's quite the souvenir!
I debated whether to buy it on not, because I certainly do not need another quilt...ahem....but the price was too good to pass up, especially for the condition it is in.
I can imagine that trying to apply binding to all those curves will be challenging. (Yikes!)
I'm so glad that I stumbled across this quilt. I have no buyer's remorse whatsoever. :)
Before we left on the trip, I attached the binding on my happy quilt, so it is now completely finished. (More pictures to come.) It was great to have a quilt to bind on the road!
Since I finished a quilt, I spent the past few nights cutting out a new project. It felt good to start something new, finally! Our guild (the Minneapolis MQG) is doing a crayon challenge, which I'm excited about! I have to say, I feel fortunate to have randomly picked such a cohesive group of colors. Cerise is dangerously close to purple, but I think I can handle it. (hahaha!) I managed to find enough of it in my stash and scrap bins for my project, which is a very good thing!
On the way home, I had the opportunity to meet up with my long-time blog friend, Suzanne. She has been such a good friend and a constant source of encouragement to me over the past several years. It was an absolute delight to finally meet her in real life and have a visit over a cup of tea. It was the best.
I hope your week is off to a great start! Thanks for reading. xo
33 comments:
What a treasure! Congratulations on your find!
If the price was right, I would have grabbed that quilt too. I have repaired a baby lap quilt and was pleased with the result.
I know you will work magic with this one.
Always love your polka dot fabric bindings.
What a fun post and a great find in that lovely quilt! Every time I see one of those hexagon quilts, I kick myself that I didn't ask my grandma how she did them, and believe me, she did thousands of those beauties. Love! your happy quilt! I'm interested in how your guild is conducting the crayon challenge? I hope to be like Suzanne someday and....meet you too! :) I still remember the night I found your blog, I made a checkbook cover from your tutorial! and then soon I acquired some FMF from you! I don't remember the details of that tho'! :)
Your comment, "...but what I really love is that each one of the hexagons are pieced before they were stitched together. What a charming detail! " caused a grin and chuckle.
No dear, that's not what happened, if what my grandmother and mother did are any indications. They didn't have any pieces big enough to cut the hexagon out of. So they used the scraps they had to build a piece of fabric big enough to cut the hexagon. Scrap quilting in its purest form. Making do, with what you have. We only play at scrap quilting.
SUch a great find!
Love that your acquisition quilt and the quilt you are making both have red and white polka dots!
Wait, there's a Minneapolis MQG? Sweet! My family might be relocating to Rochester, MN and I didn't find anything closer than Eastern Iowa through the MQG finder. That is great news.
I am also eager to hear about how you decide to fix up your new old quilt - we have the quilt my husband's great-grandmother made him that he used all through his childhood and it is quite beat up, and I would like to fix it but it's pretty intimidating! Lots of spots where certain fabrics have disintegrated over time, leaving just the batting.
What an incredible find. So good that you snapped it up and took it home. Sounds like you had a great trip.
I look forward to seeing the restored quilt. The binding shouldn't be too hard. Bias binding does bend around curves. For me the challenge would be the hexies. I have never done any. Love the colors of your new project. Bright and cheerful.
Sweet souvenir!!
What an absolute treasure! I can imagine how lovely it will be to sit and repair the old quilt, while thinking about the original maker and imagining her sitting and sewing it all together in the first place. I wonder if she ever imagined her quilt would still be cherished all these years later
What a great find! I guess that makes the polka dot hexagons, scrap hexies!
Such a find, a lovely quilt! And the way it was finished, wow, who ever made this one certainly liked a challenge :-)
I enjoy your posts. Lovely work you do. Thank you for giving me inspiration.
Ditto to Judy's comment above. Bet those red dot hexies are from a seamed scrap. I have 3 quilts my mom & grandmother made ... one is that same orange background & some of your prints are very similar to mine. One of the quilts is signed/dated 1932!!! Same scraps in all 3 as well. My mom had pointed out which were from (their) dresses, aprons & feedsacks. So special. You found a real gem!!
A road trip is always fun for spring break, especially to warmer climes. Finding a gorgeous vintage quilt makes the trip even better. So does a quilt finish!
When you tackle the binding, check out Heather Mulder Peterson's binding tutorials on her Trends and Traditions blog. She explains those odd angles beautifully. I did a zigzag binding using them, and accomplished it with great results and no moaning.
Great find at an antique store. Excited to see your work on restoring this gem.
I buy many vintage quilts and have to repair them. These particular types of quilts have binding that is a challenge but if you take your time, it will look fantastic. I think you did a great thing, rescuing this quilt. I look at my repaired vintage quilts and just adore each and every one of them.
Your antique quilt find is awesome! I have a couple that are in need of some repair also including binding. I already have the binding cut but am not sure if I should remove the old one or not. I am tempted to leave the old one on and bind over that. What do you intend to do?
Love your new quilt! I recently finished repairing a well-loved grandmothers flower garden quilt for a friend. Some of the flower material was completely gone. I ended up sewing tulle on top of them to protect the areas and stitching up some tears on the back. It was well worth the effort and my friend is very happy to be able to display his beloved quilt. Enjoy the process. You'll find yourself learning about the original quilter.
I love how your polka dot binding seems to be the same print as the pieced hexies in the antique quilt! And how fun to get to meet with online friends in real life. <3
Judy is spot-on, I personally have pieced scraps together to get enough fabric to cut. I love the history of quilting and sewing, making do with what you have. What a beautiful find! Imagine the person(s) who worked on it and who it was made for!
What a wonderful souvenir of your trip! If you are in need of any vintage fabrics for repairs, let me know, I would be happy to give them to you. That binding will be a trip, but it is one of the charming details of this quilt.
I'm glad you were able to visit my state and to find such a lovely treasure. I see some mighty pretty feedsack fabrics in there. I have several old quilts passed to me from family members and I love to look at the fabrics. Some pieces I even recognize from a dress or shirt. Very nice.
I love it! And look how your polka dot binding fabric 'goes' with the new-old quilt too! I think if it were mine, I would trim it square so I could bind it with straight grained binding. The cut-offs could be used to repair any hexagons inside that need repaired :)
What a gorgeous quilt - i love love the colors - and how the makers did it in the old days - they didn't have the luxury of endless quilt stores or online shopping; they did REAL scrap quilting - when they had to piece enough tiny scraps together to make a tiny piece. That's why that square is so amazing. And how they outlined each "diamond" with the red hexies. That's resourcefulness! What a work of art. I'm sure you will make it wonderful when you repair and re-bind it.
WTg on finishing your happy quilt - i love the light, bright lilting liveliness of the colors you chose against the white
I'm glad you enjoyed your trip and found a great treasure! Thank you for coming back!!
What a great find! I'll be eagerly watching and learning as you repair this lovely hexagon quilt. And I adore your color challenge. I was just looking at my scrap boxes and thinking "hmmm, what do I need to use up?" Reds and turquoises, for sure!
I love the quilt in the photo with you and Suzanne. Scrap vortex quilt? Your rescued quilt is beautiful and I hope you will share the repair journey. I have only repaired one quilt and that involved replacing the binding. Since it was one I made, it was not difficult. I was so honored that the quilt had been used and loved so much.
Funny, I think of cerise as dangerously close to pink! maybe its a gateway color!?
Świetne i bardzo pracochłonne
I've never bought an antique quilt. (Honestly, I wouldn't even know what a good price for one would be!) It seems like such an interesting handmade object to purchase. I can only imagine the hours that went into creating it and, as you noticed, using every bit of fabric on hand. This was someone's passion project, and here you are, decades later, as its owner. It kind of blows my mind!
This quilt is wonderful. I love the pieced polka dotted hexies. What a lot of work.
I was given an antique quilt, I think it is like a Lemoyne Star but one huge star makes up the whole quilt - maybe that is called something else? Anyway, I keep thinking I should repair it but the task is daunting. Someday......
Amazing find, this quilt needed to be saved :-) I am SO incredibly happy that you and Suzanne finally got to meet in person. Isn't she awesome? (OK, I might be a TINY bit biased, LOL)...
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