Friday 16 October 2009

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??

7 comments:

  1. Nina, definetly a great find.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, you are so lucky! That is an amazing find! I have no experience with restoring old quilts, but I imagine the fact that they are pieced on a fabric foundation will make it easier to take apart and reassemble. It will provide some stability and less chance of the blocks coming apart in an unwanted fashion. Do keep us up to date on your progress! I'm excited to see what you do with it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a great find! So good that it is on foundation blocks making it much easier to work with. Can't wait to see what you do with it.

    I got all the patterns and I'm so eager now to start working on the Santa Cats runner for Christmas. Thank you so much. Wish I could be there for your Monday night meetings.

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a lovely find! Love the colors and the nice contrast the black makes... Afraid I don't have any ideas as to reassemble it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm glad you found such a great treasure! Your plan sounds good. I'm sure whatever you do will be fantastic.

    ReplyDelete
  6. What an undertaking! I have never attempted anything like this before, but it certainly sounds doable. Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hei - for en flott quilt du har funnet/reddet livet til.
    Jeg hadde ett liknende arbeid for meg i fjor, da jeg monterte og quilta en liknende sak for en kollega. Jeg plukka den ikke fra hverandre selv om ikke blokkene var like store, det er jo det som er litt av sjarmen med disse gamle. Du får heller quilte litt her og der - gjerne for hånd, så ser du hvor du må sy litt mere. Vil du se "min" så kan du rulle deg tilbake til 21 septemger 2008 i bloggen min.

    ReplyDelete

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.