Like a Rolling Stone

Family history tells us that this Rolling Stone quilt may have been made by the owner's great -grandmother.

I'd date most of the quilt top fabrics to the 19-teens to 1920s, with some c. 1900 fabrics included. 

 

This quilt holds a couple of surprises.  The back and binding fabrics and strips added to the long sides, however, are c. 1940.  This suggests that the top was enlarged a bit and then quilted a while after the top was made.

   

Another fun tidbit is some older patching.  I always enjoy seeing a quilt that has been mended sometime in the past.  To me, that says that the quilt has always been valued and cared for.  And that seems even sweeter when, like this one, it's still the family of the quilter who made it. 

I found this old patch very amusing!  I patched over the grey-green, leaving the black patch in place.  I chuckled all the while I was sewing it.  It makes me think of entering a tunnel on a drive through the mountains.

 

 

This same block gave me some difficulty deciding on a green fabric for the patching.  Nothing was quite right, and as sometimes happens, I had different top choices in daylight vs. lamplight.  I did eventually decide on which would blend in best with the look and feel of the quilt.  

 

  

At the other end of the spectrum of finding patching fabrics, matching this blue fabric was a breeze.  There are both old and new patches in this block. 

Here are some of the other fabrics for your enjoyment. 

 

A Joyful Dresden Plate

 

I love this quilt!  This is especially notable because the era and colors are not among my favorites.  What pleases me so much is the full-out exuberance of the fabric choices.  The wild (for a background) print makes the whole design dance.  This quilt makes me smile!

At some point in its history this Dresden Plate quilt was probably thrown in the washing machine. The wool batting (which may have come from the family's sheep) ended up with lumpy and uneven shrinking.  Also, that wild background fabric is unsuitable for the washing because it was very, very lightweight, almost as light as a voile.  Apparently, two borders had already been cut back.  The remaining two borders were very badly torn, as were 3 large areas in the body of the quilt.  

Preserving Our Quilt Legacy - Virtual Workshop

Good news!  My Preserving Our Quilt Legacy Virtual Workshop is coming up soon.  Sessions take place on five Saturdays, Jan 28 - Feb 25 2025.  This is a rare opportunity to learn about the many aspects of restoration and conservation all in one package.  Find out more:

A full description and registration info 

An introductory video

Besides lectures and demos, you’ll receive a set of samples of tools and fabrics, access to video demos of techniques and stitches, links to other resources.  You’ll be able to show a quilt and see everyone else’s quilts and learn about how to assess what each quilt needs and how to proceed.   

Why do I like taking care of quilts?  My academic background is in anthropology, which taught me about how much meaning the objects we make and use every day can hold.  And all quilts have their story.

"Storytelling is the place where social and personal history meet."

This is a line from a lovely book I recently received, How to Write Your Personal or Family History, by Katie Funk Wiebe.  The book was written by the mother of a dear friend of mine.  She wrote many books, many of them about family and history.

One thing she stresses is how small memories and facts can build a valuable memoir.  I feel the same is true of quilts - it's not only the flashy and museum quality quilts that are worth gentle handling and care.

Every quilt cared for and saved preserves a little bit of both family history and our collective history.  It brings to life the history that is not written in textbooks.

My Favorite Basket Quilt

I absolutely love this quilt!  If it had been in a shop rather than coming to me for repair, I might have just "had" to buy it. 

Part of why I love it is that green is my favorite color.  (To see another 1930s quilt with a green background, take a look at a Magic Vine quilt which I bought as a nearly completed top, which I finished and quilted.)  I also love the use of that dark green in (most of) the cornerstones and corners of the quilt.  They are a great example of how a bit of a contrasting accent can really perk up the design.  And I love the little red and white seersucker stripe that's in many of the blocks.  Such a tribute to summer!

 

Virtual Quilt Repair Workshop - Registration is Open!

Taking good care of antique and vintage quilts is taking good care of family, textile, and social history. It’s a wonderful journey! 

My next workshop will be held January 27 - February 24 2024, on 5 consecutive Saturdays.  All the details and registration are on my website.  If you have questions, contact me here or at annquilts@comcast.net. 

Restoration

Conservation

Preservation

Philosophy

 

Techniques

Supplies 

Each student can present one (or two if time allows) quilts for discussion of how, when, and why to use the various supplies and techniques. All eras and styles are welcome.  This will be our own mini quilt show, with lots of interesting history to discuss!

I have 40 years of experience to share. The workshop is appropriate for quilters, appraisers, collectors, and the keepers of family heirlooms. I'll guess some of you belong to several of those categories at once!

 

Virtual Quilt Repair Workshop - Registration is Open!

Taking good care of antique and vintage quilts is taking good care of family, textile, and social history. It’s a wonderful journey! 

Preserving Our Quilt Legacy Virtual Workshop

My next workshop will be held January 27 - February 24 2024, on 5 consecutive Saturdays.  All the details and registration are on my website. 

We will cover many aspects of the process.  Restoration, conservation, and preservation.  Finding patching fabrics, which includes gaining knowledge of the history of fabric printing and dyeing.  Learning about needles, threads, and other tools of the trade.  Learning stitches and tips for well-sewn patches.  Learning how to choose what and how much to do, including when to repair and when not to.

Each student can present one (or two if time allows) quilts for discussion of how, when, and why to use the various supplies and techniques. All eras and styles are welcome.  This will be our own mini quilt show, with lots of interesting history to discuss.

I have 40 years of experience to share. The workshop is appropriate for quilters, appraisers, collectors, and the keepers of family heirlooms. I'll guess some of you belong to several of those categories at once!

Please comment here or email me if you have questions!

 

Quilt Repair Tidbits #4

Quilt Repair Tidbits.  The next (somewhat) weekly installment of quilt repair tidbits and photos.

This week’s tidbit:  A hand-me-down set of vintage/antique Mosaic/Grandmother’s Flower Garden blocks.

I’ll be teaching a virtual quilt care and repair workshop in winter 2024.  One thing I’ll be talking about is learning how to tell the age of the fabrics in old quilts.  These blocks have a secret key to their age. 

All the info about the workshop is on my website.  And you can email me to be added to the interest list for notification when registration opens.

So, about the blocks.  The fabrics in the center date to the third quarter of the 1800s.  The outer ring, though, was mysterious.  The print reminds me of a maternity dress I made in 1990, nothing like  the 1860s-70s prints. 

The blocks were English paper pieced, and the outer ring still includes the paper hexagons.  Many of them were cut from a newspaper.  There are papers that give fun glimpses of life at the time those hexies were pieced (my mother adored Maurice Chevalier), and place the blocks, at least the final ring, in Chicago.  Also, notice the tiny and neat whip stitches that join the hexies.

Several of the papers, like this one, refer to events in 1932, which handily dates the curious outer ring.

And the fabrics!  Glorious!  The delicate etching of the prints.  The pairing of tomato soup red with a greyed medium blue.

You can see lots more photos of these blocks on my blog.

So these blocks have had two phases of construction over the course of the last 150 years or so, and still no one has joined them together.  (And I think that the outer print looks still more modern than what newspapers are telling me!)

Quilt Repair Tidbits #3

The next post of fun quilt repair moments. 

This week:  a prize-winning family heirloom quilt.  Check out the design and sewing skills, about as perfect as a quilt can get.

I hope this beauty will inspire you to join in the virtual quilt repair and care workshop that I will be teaching in winter 2024.  All the info is on my website.  Email to be added to the mailing list for notification when registration opens.

The workshop will cover restoration and conservation supplies and techniques and how to choose which to use, and also, fabric history, and preservation concepts like storage and cleaning.  Everyone will get to show a quilt or two and we’ll discuss how to proceed with their care.

The marvelous appliqué.

 The marvelous quilting. The feather wreath echoes the appliqué.

Look at the border with alternating flower designs!

How many stitches per inch?!  Beautifully made!

There were a few areas of worn fabric.  Since the owner was planning to continue storing the quilt, we decided against doing any stitching into the weakened fabrics and left it as is. 

I recommended storing with proper materials, especially padding the folds with acid-free tissue paper rolls, and also, periodic refolding along different lines.  These will avoid worsening the creases that have formed which could eventually lead to more fabric damage.

The Woman’s Day Sweepstakes Prize for appliqué.  Unfortunately, some of the identifying info about the venue is illegible.  Quilt likely dates to the 1930s or so. 

Kudos to this quilter of the past for honing her skills and making this graceful and wondrous quilt!