DWR

Amidst all the other recent starts I got my Double Wedding Ring top in the hoop and have been enjoying plying the quilting needle again. The last hand quilting I did was on the Baltimore Album quilt and I am so much happier with this Fairfield cotton batt. It's *much* easier to needle than the Heirloom cotton I had in the BA.

This top was completed in 1996 maybe. But it had to wait it's turn. It's pieced from cottons from the 1930's, 40's and 50's, so I wasn't willing to machine quilt it.

Probably 15 years ago I was talking to a woman that did hand-quilting for hire and we shared our love of vintage fabrics and patterns. She said, "Wait just a minute... I think I have something you might enjoy", and she *gave* me a box of 5" charm squares she'd picked up at an Estate sale. I was floored, she didn't want any money for them. "You'll be more likely to do something with them than I will." So over that summer I hand traced and cut the wedges for the melons from those 5" squares. It's too bad I've lost touch with that quilter, she might enjoy seeing what was done with those charms.

There's just something so delightful about the old patterns, created in the old way.