Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Quilty history

My aunt sent me this quilt top today. She thought it was made by my great-grandma, but my grandma says she thinks her grandma made it. (So that would be my great-great-great grandma. I think.) I'm not sure how old it is, but it's safe to assume it was made "back in the day."
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Isn't it awesome?!?! It's big. About twin size.

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It's all hand-stitched. I think it's really cool that the colors and design look like a contemporary quilt.

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All this with no rotary cutter?

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I'm so excited to finish this up! It's in really good condition. I don't have a plan, but I'm thinking this might be one to quilt by hand. Any tips or suggestions would be much appreciated.
Thanks, Aunt Mary for sending this to me!

11 comments:

Stephanie said...

Wow. That is super awesome! I love the colors!!

Robin said...

wow. this is beautiful. and I am so happy it FINALLY got into the right hands. I had it for a while and knew I would screw it up so I didn't touch it. Aren't you glad?

Alice said...

Try "Quilting Designs from the Past". It has quilting designs suited to different time periods.
It is a lovely quilt top - you could go wild and do lots of quilting, or you could do something simple like a hanging diamond allover pattern.
A design I like for filling in white spaces is called pumpkin seed - it has four segment shaped pieces making up a flower. I think it would look nice on this.

Anne at Film and Thread said...

That is a really stunning quilt. You are right it does look very modern. It is sure going to be a treasure and it is wonderful that you are getting to finish it!

Wendy P said...

I recently discovered the Minick and Simpson blog. There lots of posts about quilting by hand and I think you might learn a lot from Laurie.
http://minickandsimpson.blogspot.com

How exciting to have quilters in your family tree and get your great great gramma's quilt top! It is gorgeous! Can't wait to see the outcome.

Anonymous said...

Finally!! Someone willing and able.
I'm so glad Aunt Mary thought of you. I'm thrilled, katie


Grandma

Leah said...

You are the perfect person to inherit this. I can't wait to see how you finish it.

tam2324l said...

Wendy P: Regarding your "how exciting to have quilters in your family" comment. Just so you know, in our family, the quilting gene skipped several generations. Poor Katie has the weight of all of our lack of creativity on her shoulders.

Katie's Aunt Tammy

randi said...

this is a wonderful quilt, and you are right, it does look contemporary. have fun putting on the finishing touches!

Anonymous said...

I can't believe what great shape it is in! Way to take the family history reins Katie :)

-Lauren

**nicke... said...

what a treasure! i am so jealous!