Birthday Quilts!!

I am feeling really good!!! Almost as good as the day before the pain set in about a month ago. To celebrate, I took my basket out to the line and took pictures of the quilts my mother gave me for my birthday. When I arrived on Friday evening, it was suppertime so we went to the Nifty 50's Cafe on Main Street and enjoyed our meal and seeing old friends. We weren't home very long before my mother got out the quilt top that she bought for me at Sparkey's Auction in Fort Dodge. I knew I was getting it as she went to the auction on my birthday and called to say she had bought this lovely quilt top with lots of triangles in it. I was thrilled. Just by her description, I knew it was going to be pretty. And I don't do triangles well, so I was really thrilled someone else made it!! And here it is................

Just look at all those little triangles!! And the whole thing is sewn by hand! It is in excellent condition and I love it! My mom thinks the center square fabric is from the 20's and she says she's pretty sure it's not feedsack. She did a lot of sewing with feedsacks and she feels this is "yard-goods". There are every color of fabric scraps in the triangles and my favorite are the blue shirtings. This one begs for hand-quilting so now I have to decide if I can do it or need to get a group together and have a "bee". :-) I thought the quilt top was my gift but then my mother showed me these quilts. I asked if I could take pictures of them and she said "oh, they're part of your birthday gift, too!" She said no one was interested in bidding on them so she got them really cheap. She thought the one below could be used as a "cutter" quilt as it is not in very good condition and then stitched into smaller projects. Hmmm, I'm thinking not on this one.

You can see in the close-up that it is very worn but the colors that remain are still so vibrant and I love the intricately stitched zig-zag binding, so I just can't cut it up yet. Now this next one is just lovely, except for one thing..........

......the faded spot in the bottom right. Otherwise, the quilt is beautifully quilted and in very good condition. There are a couple minor places that need to be stitched up but once repaired, you'll never find them again. And a washing in a good quilt soap will take away the suface grime. The fading is another matter. I think someone may have used bleach in trying to remove a spot that is in the area. My mom thought maybe it was sun-fade but it's so localized that I don't think that's it. I took a close-up of a couple of the blocks, as they are all blue and white, except for a couple of blocks that surprise you with their red and white polka dot fabric.

I love the pattern of this quilt and am definitely going to recreate this one in a collection of blue shirtings that have been waiting for just the right project. Add that one to my long list of "projects I want to do"!

That's all for tonight. See you tomorrow with more pics of fun stuff. :-)

Sandi