Friday, June 01, 2007

Wash Day


This was the scene at my house a week ago. I just love the homey look of freshly washed quilts on the line. I made this quilt years ago from a ragged top I found in a collectible shop. I loved the colors and prints. The fabrics range from the 1920's to the 1960's.

The owner was asking 15.00. (!) I snatched it up. He said, "I had another one just like it in the van that I was using to wrap the furniture... I don't know what happened to that one." Yikes!

I took it apart piece by piece, the stitching was *awful*, large stitches using thread that was coarse and heavy. I didn't feel like I was destroying history.

Then I made 3" ninepatches out of the nicer prints and set them into a Double Nine Patch layout.

Here's a close-up of some of the prints. The one above has little clown heads in the top block. The top block in the lower picture has cat footprints. Too cute! Click to enlarge.



And a hand printed label that reads:

This quilt was made from fabrics that were recycle from a scrap quilt that was found in a collectibles store. The fabrics range in date from 1920 to 1960. Only the muslin, border fabric and backing are new. It is quilted in the Bishops fan pattern. Machine pieced by Leslie Roberts and hand quilted by Lil Barton, both of Santa Rosa, California. Begun April 1990, completed November 1992.

Pieces from the past.

5 comments:

Hedgehog said...

What a great rescue!!

Fiona said...

Great save!

Rose Marie said...

Lovely quilt! The old quilt is very maverick, but the new quilt is sweet. Did you have any problem with some of the old fabric strips?

Patti said...

What a wonderful recycled quilt! You made the most you could out of the "treasure" you found. It turned out beautifully, and is a tribute to the fabrics of the past. Well done - no wonder you love it!

Anonymous said...

My mom is the Lil Barton who hand quilted your quilt. She would be honored that you mentioned her. Not too long after the 90's she came down with an illness that made it impossible to continue quilting.