Look what I've got

When I was paint shopping the other week, I had an extra 15 minutes on my hand and popped into the Salvation Army thrift shop next door to have a look.

I found this patchwork blanket on a rail; it’s not quilted, so it’s not a quilt – yet. I fell in love with the fabrics and patterns. I have wanted an old quilt for as long as I have been quilting. I even have a couple of books on restoring old quilts.

The log cabin blocks are sewn onto foundations, and then sewn together with the raw edges exposed on the back. It’s not even close to flat enough to just add a fleece backing (which I was hoping for), so I need to do quite a bit work on it first.

The first test was if it would survive a proper washing in the machine, and it did. I even put it in the dryer for a while before laying it on the floor to dry properly. There is a hole in one of the blocks and some of the fabrics, but they did not get any worse during washing.

I think I will take the blocks apart, cut them to size, cover any holes with appliqué, and put the blocks back together again. The maker has put great effort in designing the blocks, because the sort of interlocking pattern is perfect. Some of the fabrics have such fabulous colours and modern look to them.

The “border” is fabric strips that are pieced onto the foundations with the log cabins. I might remove them and add another brown border if it does not ruin the blocks.

Any suggestions to what I should or should not do??