Thursday, December 11, 2014

Out of the Blue

Sometimes you get lucky.  That was what happened recently.  I met a woman who mentioned that her grandmother left her a quilt that her mother had made for her.  That is, she was in possession of a quilt made by her great grandmother.  A little persuasion was all she needed to show off her quilt.


No-one else in the family wanted it.  Really?!!

Imagine the work that went into this beautiful quilt.  Hand quilted.  Heavily.  And well.

And then to see the quilt signed and dated.  I always do that now.  If you don't, you should.  It was wonderful to see evidence on the quilt of when it was made and by whom.


The label was embroidered by hand.

The colours are not accurate.  The red is fairly stable, although there is evidence that the quit has been washed - a small bit of red has crept into the white.  The tan was originally a green but the dye was a "fugitive".


As I said, you can get lucky.

13 comments:

Janet said...

Oh what a treasure, it looks wonderful . I love the pattern and the quilting on it.

Sheila said...

So beautiful!

Karen said...

A treasure for sure. The tree design is well done. And just think that the quilt is over 100 years old.

Janet O. said...

Wow! Gorgeous piece!
What a wonderful family heirloom!

Samplings from Spring Creek said...

What a treasure--and the signature with the date makes it all the more special

Cardygirl said...

How wonderful, sadly none here...so I am leaving them for the future?

Sherrill said...

WOW!! I can't imagine no one in that family wanting that treasure. So sad! But may be the way my quilts wind up!

Julie Fukuda said...

I love old family quilts. Unfortunately I was in Japan when the huge collection of our families quilts was passed down. I did see some at my sister's house being dragged around by the kids and quite a few at my brother's place.. I have no idea where they ended up after he died, but since I spent the most amount of time sleeping under them, I am probably the only one in the family that misses them

Janet said...

Absolutely beautiful!! Such a classic pattern and the quilting looks fantastic! I love the flowers quilted in next to the tree trunks :0)

Nancy said...

It’s sad where peoples priorities have gone -for a family member not to want this beauty is hard to believe.

audrey said...

Lucky, lucky you! It's hard to believe people getting rid of family treasure, but I know quilts don't mean anything to some people.

Lynette said...

Nobody wanted that??? What silly SILLY people! It's striking to start with, if only for a Christmas-time pull-out, and not even counting the heirloom value of it!

Dawn said...

That's a great quilt. How nice she shared it with you. I like the name and date big and bold.