VTT, Quilts

I'm a quilter so you know what you will frequently see on my blog, the title leaves no room for doubt!
For Vintage Thingies Thursday no surprise I have more vintage quilt stuff to show.
Last Saturday we went by a yard sale in the village, I didn't expect much [& wasn't too disappointed] mostly junk except for this quilt - for one dollar, can you believe? It's hand quilted, not terribly well & I have no idea of it's vintage - or even if it is vintage though it looks it to me. It's very heavy & I'm wondering if it has an old wool blanket inside? It was obviously a "planned quilt' because the fabrics all match from block to block & the border & binding too. Anyway, I think it's quite charming in a shabby chic sort of way, it's a nice cuddly quilt, a little worn but in fairly decent condition & with that lovely wrinkly look that quilts get when the batting inside shrinks up more than the fabric. I just couldn't leave it there for $1, could you? I washed it up & all the stains came out. Oxyclean rocks!

I have been buying more vintage blocks & tops on eBay - it is very addictive & here are a couple of my latest purchases.
These are all hand pieced vintage items, such tiny stitches, they are very special to me & I will take great pleasure in finishing them into usable quilts. I would never devote so much time myself to hand-sewing. When they saw them each of my two GS's said "someone has waaay too much time on their hands"! I explained that these were made many decades ago, 60,70 or even 80 yrs. earlier before there was a TV [or two or three - or more] in every home, & many women sat & sewed in the evenings after all their other household chores were done.
We also talked about the cost of sewing machines & the fact that not every household had one.
They like to hear about "the old days" & this was a "teaching moment" I could not resist!

The border on this scrappy quilt top is hand sewn too & a little "wavy", but I think I can "quilt out" the fullness of the extra fabric. For non-quilters, this is what can happen when the piecer doesn't measure the top carefully & cut the borders to fit.

I purchased these charming Grandmother's Fan blocks unfinished but with most of the hard work done, again hand sewn. There are plenty of them to make a nice size quilt especially if I sash the blocks. Typically these blocks were made from scraps of clothing, feed- sacks & other available bits & pieces of fabric. Included in this collection were several "fans" not yet attached to the center piece & a few odd blocks of other types quite unrelated to the fan block design.




One block was completed but we'll never know why the maker failed to finish her quilt. The same applies to all these incomplete items & I like to think about how it would delight the original owner to have them used. If you click here you will see one setting for a Grandmother's fan quilt but that's not how I plan to set mine after make these fans into full blocks. You can be sure I will be using a sewing machine - perhaps my trusty old treadle that sews such a perfect stitch & if I do I will post about it!
These may not seem like such treasures to others but to a quilter they are!
I'm going to stop looking on eBay at these vintage quilt pieces so I will not be tempted - well, at least I will try!
Now if you are hooked on vintage you can visit coloradolady's blog to see the list of all the other participants in VTT.