Monday, September 10, 2012

Smokey Inspects My Taylor Bridge Fire Quilt

Misha Smokey inspecting JB
Smokey just *has* to inspect everything I'm quilting! Here she admires the color changes in the variegated thread I chose to quilt the Jewel Box top.

It's made up of primary colors and is a discontinued color from Connecting Threads.

I think she's partial to the swirly pattern, as she seems to be more interested in the quilts on which I use this design!

I made binding for it this morning but then had to go to work. I'm having a friend over Wednesday to sew and I plan to get that binding attached so we can call this one DONE!!!

In case you don't follow my other activities, please come see the Taylor Bridge Fire Quilts blog

Friday, September 7, 2012

Great Grandmothers' Quilts

No, I didn't put the apostrophe in the wrong place, I have quilts to show from TWO of my great grandmothers!

Mum had been telling me ever since I started quilting 4 years ago that she had a couple of her grandmothers' quilts. It took all this time to figure out where they were, as she would alternate between saying they were in the cedar chest (which has a huge TV on top of it) and telling me they were in the linen closet (which is packed). But finally last week they surfaced, and are now in my possession for safekeeping!! 

This first one is believed to be by her paternal grandmother. Mum's memory is a little rusty (cough) and of course there's no label and no one else to ask, so we're going to assume that is the case! It is hand pieced and hand quilted, and approximately 60 x 80".

 basket quilt 7956

You'll see that a lot of the blue fabrics faded to nearly white over the years, but many of the baskets are still quite vibrant. It has some stains and the single layer of binding is shredded in areas. I will probably hand baste those areas for now, just so they don't get worse.

basket close1 7959

Here is a close up of some of the fabrics. If anyone has an idea of what decade this might date to I'd love to hear your thoughts!

basket close2 7958



Below is a gorgeous Double Wedding Ring hand  pieced and hand quilted by my mom's maternal grandmother, Zeal. It is 74 x 81"

DWR 7962

She's the one who also made the baby quilt I posted previously. Some of the fabric dyes have transferred to other areas, not by bleeding but by crocking (contact/rubbing onto the others). The binding is double fold and is in very good shape. I only found one part that was frayed. I took a few close ups of this one too. I recognize the fabrics as being feedsack/30's but am not sure when it was actually made.

 Enjoy!!!

DWR mid 963

DWR mid 7964

DWR close up 7967