Vintage Thingies Thursday, Quilts

As a quilter I thought I'd show a few of my vintage quilty things this week.
Recently I bought a few blocks from eBay, some Dresden plate blocks, some Grandmother's Garden & a quaint little pink plaid/muslin top. They are all circa 30's I'd say & will be fun for me to complete. I love the idea & the satisfaction of finishing something that was begun so long ago- I think the originator would be so pleased by that, I know I would be & I hope that anything I leave behind unfinished will be completed by another generation quilter. Of course I also hope that won't be much, I am really trying to finish what I start!

There will be 25 of the Dresden plates to make a nice sized quilt, the plates themselves are 12" across, the muslin blocks 14". I will probably have to keep this one, I love these blocks they are very nicely made & well preserved. I have really fallen for these vintage fabrics if you look closely I think you will see why, they are adorable!


Above is a sample of those appliqued already......

and two of the half dozen that still need to be appliqued onto muslin.


Then I have 28 Grandmother's garden blocks, not all quite as well sewn but ok. They each measure 9" across & I will probably combine them with some solids to make a quilt.


This sweet little top is 60"x73" & I have no idea at all how I will quilt it or what I will do with it after that but I thought it quite dainty looking & feminine & the price was very reasonable. No one else seemed too interested in it it so I sort of felt it needed a new home & someone other than the maker [now long gone from this life I suspect] to love it! I think that it needs a muslin border to set it off & that would make it about 70"x80", reasonable single bed size. Perhaps if I ever have a granddaughter I can give it to her as she grows up, I might even be able to teach her to quilt-if this family can ever make a girl!
I also have no clue if there is a name for the "pattern" or if the piecer just invented the design?

This Double Wedding Ring quilt[DWR] was a top given to me by a friend in TX in the early 70's. It had belonged to her husband's aunt & she had lots of the aunt's quilts & tops & I was thrilled to get this one, I think I knew I would not be making a DWR. I started to once, made about 4 or 5 blocks & gave it away !
I purchased the stripe in the border of this one, added on three sides to make it KS & paid two little old sisters in their 90's to quilt it for me.


I think they charged me about $25, the simple outline quilting stitches are rather large & I suspect their eyesight may have been less than perfect but I was grateful to have it done, I knew little about quilting at that time. It remained on our bed for many years, now it is displayed on a quilt rack. The wedding rings are not very round & they are rather large perhaps that was the problem but to me it is a treasure & I believe somehow that the maker is pleased that her work is in loving hands.

As I always tell others, no quilt police allowed here!
If this has whet your appetite for vintage things you will love visiting
Colorado Lady & a list of other VTT participants, it's always entertaining.
PS. Just three more days to sign up for my give away, the "Koalas In The Window" quilt, scroll back three posts to leave your name & contact info.

Tennessee Waltz and a Vintage Missouri Daisy

The Tennessee Waltz quilt above belongs to a client & I quilted it earlier this week with leafy wreaths in the open areas & continuous quilting in the star blocks. It is a lovely quilt, makes my work a joy! I was pleased with the result and the quilt's owner was very happy & that's what counts!
The Missouri Daisy quilt below was a new one to me, but a bit of surfing around the 'net brought forth some good information. I found a couple of patterns for the block & even some quilts for sale. However I did not find this exact setting of the MD blocks with the larger open blocks & intersecting squares set on point, it appears to be rather an unusual setting. I had none of this info. when I first wrote this post so I am adding these new titbits as I discover them!
Most I saw were around the same size, this one is 63" x 77" quilted.
I loaded the daisy quilt top on the machine, knowing that it would present a few challenges as these vintage quilts always do. They sit in storage in various & sundry places, are toted around as the owners move, are often passed from hand to hand & generally suffer from aging 70 or 80 yrs.

This a photo before quilting so I will add the completed quilting pics. later today or tomorrow after I get it bound. The maker appears to have used various shades of neutrals in the 4 piece blocks & you can see there is also some age discolororation in places but a careful laundering may remove some of that. The original cutting & so the hand piecing are both a little irregular in places, back then the scissors weren't always very sharp, there were no nice templates like we have now, no rotary cutters etc & no daylight bulbs!
As you can see the petals are 3D, a more difficult technique for the piecer to have produced & according to one writer, only attempted by experienced quilters. It would also be much more difficult to sew by hand rather than machine, it must have been quite challenging & I would not want to have to do it that way myself.
The petals are gathered onto the adjoining pieces which are also for the most part gathered onto the center circles. Now I freely confess that I know little about this pattern so I don't know if the pieces surrounding the petals are meant to be gathered? Some of the patterns appear to be that way but the quilting shown for them is only outline. If anyone has personal experience with this pattern I would love to hear from you, because now I am quite curious!

The gathering was more generous in some blocks & other areas were fairly flat. That said it became impossible in some areas to avoid little tucks, though I spritzed the worriesome areas & applied the hairdryer [it can produce varying degrees of success in easing the fullness] then stippled around patting & manipulating the fullness to distribute it as best I could. I didn't want to apply any chemical products to the quilt such as starch so the water/ hairdryer trick was my only option to try & reduce tucks in the excess fabric. Fortunately the fabrics are busy little 30's prints & I am using an off- white thread-Signature Parchment- so the occasional little tucks are not very obvious.


Because of it's age a few minor repairs were necessary to seams & in a couple of areas where one part of the outside block didn't quite reach all the way to the edge.
I decided to quilt a leafy wreath in the larger open areas, it's a bit more forgiving than feathers & less formal & I like the way it helps to draw the eye around & gives overall gentle movement to the quilt. It's such a charming quilt & so unusual that it deserved something a bit different to set it off. Spending time on this old charmer has me quite besotted with the design so I am now searching for a top of my own to quilt-& keep!

Here the quilting shows up nicely on the back.
It's all bound, now I can mail it off to the owner who is no doubt anxious to see how Granny's quilt turned out.