Side of the Road .... homage to an unknown quilter!

I've been a busy quilter.  Lots to show, just no pictures at the moment.  I did want to do a photo shoot this weekend using the barn as a back drop, but it was to windy.  Oh well....

What I do want to share with you is this beautiful quilt that a customer of Fibre Junction, Claire, graciously let be borrow to study the design and re-create the pattern.  The story of this quilt is quite sad, but luckily it has a happy ending.  

Claire found this stunning quilt on the side of the road, in a trash bin, some 20 odd years ago.  It was filthy .... Yes, this is a rescued quilt!

The quilt is made using feedsacks dating from 1930 to late 1940's, hand quilted and the batting is cotton.  Unfortunately, there is no label on the quilt, so the quilter is unknown.

Here you get a better view of the hand quilting.  Where there is some shifting of the batting, the stitches are intact, so I'm puzzled as to why the batting shifted so much.

You can actually see the maker's pencil markings and how the cotton batting shifted to one area.

The fabrics are absolutely gorgeous, the colours retained most of their vibrancy despite the bleaching the quilt had to undergo in order to remove the filth.

Check out this indigo blue.

I do like how the maker made the backing work for the size of the quilt by adding pieces here and there.

And .... I even found a make do! Is that cool or what?

I must admit, I enjoyed studying this quilt, looking for unique finds.  For one thing, one of the sides of the sawtooth border has one extra half square triangle than the other. Yes, it is lopsided, but you wouldn't see that when the quilt is opened.  Unlike today, math was not a pre-occupation for our ancestral quilters, nor was perfection, which is really what makes their quilts so beautiful.  

It is a shame, yet a blessing that this quilt was discarded as rubbish.  Claire enjoys this quilt and has allowed myself and many of the Prairie Women Sewing Circle club members to admire it's beauty.  Thank you Claire for your willingness to share your treasure.

I have since worked out the instructions and plan on making the pattern available soon.  I have named this quilt Side of the Road - it is my way of paying homage to the maker of this quilt.

Thank you for stopping by!  I hope you enjoyed the entry!  Cheers!

Antique Quilts .... another treat!

As of late, I have been racking my brain in an attempt to figure out why it is that I seem to continuously be rushing here and there and everywhere.  Even staying up till 2 in the morning does not give me the time I require to do the things I want to do.  Yes, I am exhausted!

I am also starting to sound like a broken record with "It's been so busy" and "Just playing catch up here". At last, it has occurred to me this very morning, while writing my standard broken record phrases on blog land, to do a bit of math regarding where I spend my time.  Well....... I found the culprit!

The ICE RINK!

Yes indeed, I spend on the average 12 hours a week at an ice rink, give or take a couple of hours.  All for the love of my daughter.  Oh.. and I do love her dearly!

Now that I know the culprit, will I do something about it?  Not a chance, but it does make me feel better to know that I am not inappropriately managing my time.  Do you think the rink manager would let me set up a sewing area?  It would be a tad cold thought! Br.....

Here is the other antique quilt from Barbara Stadnicki's collection that I promised you.

This little gem is actually foundation pieced.

The block pattern is a variation of courthouse steps, however Barbara said that is is also called Chinese Lanterns. Can you see the lanterns?

It's construction is quite particular as it does not have batting in between the layers. The maker merely finished the quilt by sewing on a binding.

Look at that tiny binding. It is not more than a quarter inch.

A block showing the various fabrics used.

Another block.

Just so you get to see a variety of fabrics, and we quilters do like fabric! ;o)

Thank you again Barbara for allowing me to share your treasures.

I hope you have enjoyed this little treat. Thank you for stopping by my little corner in cyber space! Cheers!

Antique Quilts ..... what a treat....!

Being an owner of a quilt Shoppe that specialized in 19 century reproduction has it's fringe benefits!  I would like to share with you two beautiful antique quilts that I had the privilege of admiring, for the first time, last Summer.

A few post ago, I shared with you an historical club that I organize called Prairie Women Sewing Circle Club.   I am fortunate to have a participant who not only collects antique quilts, but is presently working towards becoming an appraiser. Her name is Barbara Stadnicki, and she has allowed me to share with you a couple of beautiful quilts she brought to our last meet for other club members to experience.

Those of you who love antique quilts, you are in for a treat!

The first quilt I want to share with you is a doll quilt. Doll quilts are a rare find. As you can imagine, they are loved to pieces by the child who was privileged to have one.

This little gem is a unique piece and is quite valuable. Barbara had it appraised when she acquired it.

It's increase in value, aside from being a doll quilt, is due to having the bed post cut outs.

I am told that this is very rare for a doll quilt.

The bed post cut out provides a clue that this doll quilts most probably comes from the New England area.

According to Barbara, judging from the fabrics, it dates anywhere between 1825 to 1850.

A block from the quilt!

If you look closely at the bottom right square, you will see that two pieces of fabrics were sewn together to make a bigger block.

I purposely left the picture size large so that you could admire its construction.

Here you have the side of the quilt.

Notice the same technique of adding/sewing an extra piece of fabric in order to create the proper size block. That is one small piece of fabric.

They truly did not waste fabric. I'm sure our fore-mothers would be outraged at what we throw out as "useless scraps!" lol

They were also not afraid to work with directional prints! And.... they matched the pattern to the sewn piece! Wow!

The back of the quilt!

A pieced back, three panels plus a side strip.

The quilt is hand pieced and hand quilted. Most probably made by a 9-10 year old girl. Unfortunately, it does not have a label.

Words cannot accurately explain the feelings I experience when I am admiring this quilt.

To touch a time in history!

If the maker only knew what joy her creation would bring to another quilter centuries later!

Thank you for allowing me to sharing this beautiful creation with you.  Stay tune for the second quilt.

Cheers!

Vermont Quilt Festival - Antique exhibit......!

Okay, it's been a while and I do want to apologize. It has been so insanely busy, I will spare you with the boring details. Today, I finally sat myself down and organized my photographs from the Vermont Quilt Festival, you know, the one I attended back in June! ;o)

The exhibit was entitled Patterns of History: Quilts from the Vermont Historical Society collection sponsored by Yankee Pride Quilt of Essex Junction, Vermont.

It should be noted that all these quilts are documented as being made in Vermont. The captions under each photographs were taken from the Vermont Quilt Festival program. If you want to view the quilts in greater detail, just click on the slide show.

Enjoy!

Vermont Quilt Festival.... Partie 2

Today I thought I would show a bit of the antique exhibit. Many of the quilts were stunning. I don't know if I was allowed to photograph the quilts. I did not see any signs. However, I limited my photography to two quilts.

I could not but stand in aw when I looked at quilts made by various women more than a hundred years ago. Who would have known that their work would have lived to be part of her story. I will say that I am pleased that today we are striving to include more and more women in history. History is much too androcentric and it it time that we move away from the male perspective. What is unfortunate is that many of these beautiful quilts do not have the name of the individual who made it. Hence, the importance of labelling quilts and perhaps even keeping a journal about it.



When I saw this quilt numbered A6, I couldn't help but think of Libby from A Simple Girl and her love for small pieces.

This quilt is called Broken Dishes, circa 1840. It has more than 4,700 1 1/2 inch blocks. It came from the home of an individual in western Massachusetts. I was intrigued by the number of small pieces in the quilt.

It is quite a majestic quilt to view in person. The work that went into this quilt is phenomenal. Could you imagine collecting an enormous amount of small pieces of fabric and hand sewing them together to make the number of 1 1/2 inch blocks required to make such a large quilt? Here I am lamenting about my Corn and Bean block quilt, which has a mere 2, 112 pieces that are machine pieced . lol

It's hard to imagine that during that period, rarely was fabric purchased for the sole purpose of making a quilt. An individual would use pieces of fabric left over from dresses and what not. They didn't discard much during that time. It's hard to believe that the pieces I throw away would have been perfect for this quilt.

This is quilt A61 and is a Sampler Medallion, circa 1825. The center is crewel embroidery and does have the name "Jane Hodgson, Aged 11, 1825". Historians believe that is may have been the work of that particular individual, as it was common for young girls to be taught needle work. Of course there's always the possibility that this was commemorative piece.

It is unfortunate that nothing else is know about this quilt and many others. I'm sure the creator of this quilt did not imagine that her work would live to be part of history.

My historical reference is from the guide book issued by the VQF.

Thanks for stopping by!