Bringing Old Quilt Tops to Life--First Step

Well, I took some old quilts to our family reunion this weekend and when I started putting them back, I came across the two Grandmother's Flower Garden tops I have. (Remember, those are all hexagons.)

The first one I bought in the late 80's or early 90's at the Estate Sale of Mrs. Inez Guy, my neighbour and wife of the Postmaster in Bradford, TN for many years, Mr. Nathan Guy. It was a silent auction and I spied this top on a bed for the price of $60. It was very well done and nice colors so I snatched it up.  I know Mrs. Guy didn't make it; it's a mystery as to who made it and how it came to her.

A couple of years later I found another in a junk shop for $30. It is not as pretty or as well made, and the hexagons are a little bigger. However, it was much more yellowed--kind of tan in fact.

So I decided on Sunday that I would WASH these and see what difference that made!

BOY--did that make a difference! First of all, I could NOT believe how dirty these tops were (more the 2nd than the first). I put them into my laundry sink with Woolite and the first water looked like coffee, as did the second wash, and finally the third wash was better, but not clear. I started rinsing until the water was pretty clear. Laid them out on a tarp today to dry in the warm winds.

Yes, they do look quite different now, although a few of the edges still need additional cleaning. But I'm going to quilt them first before I wash them again. The second one needs some repaired stitching here and there as well.

I'm thinking the one that was so dirty had to be in a fire and got smoked OR lived in the home of a smoker!

But two women put in an awful lot of work to create them, so I am going to get them into quilt form finally!

An Experiment on Making Labels--Just for Your Info!

I've been trying to find EASIER and QUICKER ways to make labels so that I get them done when I finish the quilt. My embroidery machine is on my Bernina which I use all the time and is a pain to break that down and set it up for little projects. (If you have a separate embroidery machine, then your problem is solved, because embroidery labels surely are the prettiest and most long-lasting, I think.)

Thus I have experimented with using my scrapbooking stamps and colored ink pads to make a box with lines, then writing in the lettering with a Sharpie. I decided yesterday to see how they WASHED. Good news is that the Sharpie AND the colored fabric pens both survived well.

The permanent ink stamp pad markings did not.

So in the future when I use the ink pads and stamps for lines, etc. I will go over them with a fabric marker and heat-set before I do any lettering.

Also, the Sharpie tended to bleed a little on the lettering even though I had the fabric pressed onto freezer paper. The fabric markers did a better job of not bleeding. I'll use them in the future (now that I know they survive washing)for the lettering as well. 


P. S. Also, if you do labels and print them out on fabric treated with Bubble Jet Set, there's a very good shot the lettering won't survive when washed. A friend gave me a pretty lap quilt when I left CA. and her pretty printed label and sweet note are gone after washing.

 

"Spring Lattice" by Carolyn Stewart

Photo compliments of Karen Barger, our guild meeting photographer.

 

 

This quilt is almost a "free" quilt! All the colored squares inbetween the greens were from Carole Dionne, whose gift I won at our Christmas Party 2009. There were four packs of matching Moda Charm Squares. I found this pattern, I think by Gilmore Girls Co., in some magazine. Their pattern was called Scrappity-Do-Da.

 

Then I used a lot of my greens on-hand and even found the border in the stash! I quilted it on the long arm at L & S Quilts using a freehand leaf pattern. I really like this quilt and it goes perfectly in my family room which happens to have the same peach walls as in the quilt.

 

Of course, my favorite quilt is always my last quilt finished!