"What's on the line?"

Early in October, I took pictures of lots of quilts because the weather was a bit chilly and I wasn't sure there would be many nice days left before Jack Frost brought a permanent nip to the air outside. Well, Mother Nature must have Jack sitting in a corner somewhere because there was no nip in the air yesterday afternoon when I took these photos. Southern Minnesota is enjoying temps in the 60's which is rather unusual for this time of year here. Since it was so nice, I decided to take a few quilts outside that were just the right colors for the month of November. This first one has an interesting story. There are stitches from my Grandma Goldie in this quilt. It's a preprinted panel quilt that has been machine "bonded". I say, "bonded" because it's not stitched but is sort of stuck together somehow with these pressed dots. My Grandma must have felt it needed more quilting as she added her own hand-quilting to various designs on the quilt. Double-click on the photo on the right and you can see the "bonded" technique on this quilt and you will see the hand-stitches made by my Grandma. She gave this quilt to my sister, Judy, several years ago and then Judy passed it on to me a few years ago because she knows how much I love quilts. :-) It's a very soft quilt and made of cotton. The colors and design are likely from the late 1970's to early 1980's. At that time my Grandma would have been in her mid 70's.

The weather outside was just gorgeous as I took the photos of the quilts. The breeze that was blowing felt more like spring than the coming of fall! I love watching those quilts blow in the breeze! This quilt is one that my Dad and Mother would have purchased at a farm auction or estate sale. It is in very good condition but is in need of a good washing. It will be getting one today! There is a dirt type spot on one of the blocks and I'll carefully clean that and then launder the quilt. It's also very soft, made of cotton, and the embroidery is exceptionally nice as is the hand-quilting. I have no idea how old this quilt may be but I love it because it is yellow! It just says "Sunshine" and that's what Sunday held.

This next quilt is one that was a favorite of my Dad's. I know.........I said the embroidered quilt last week was a favorite of his, but he really liked this one, too. He really appreciated the handwork in this quilt and there is good reason for that. This quilt is beautifully stitched and the handquilting is lovely.

This was a preprinted cross stitch quilt top. You can still see the faint blue lines that marked the places to do the cross-stitch. It's made of cotton and is in exceptionally good condition. The photo on the right is a close-up of the center medallion. Just double-click on the photo for a closer look. I think it's possible that this could be a kit that might have been ordered from a company like Hershner's. It could have been made anytime from the 1950's to the 1980's. My dad and mother bought a number of quilts at auction, "rescued them" if you will, but there is little information on the maker's or dates the quilts were made.

In the photo below, you can see that the quilt is so large that I had to drape it over my clothesline. And you can also see the beautiful hand-quilting. The quilt is for a double bed but could be used on a queen if one had a dust ruffle on the bed. I laundered this quilt yesterday afternoon and it washed up beautifully!

After I took this pictures, I decided it was such a nice day that an ice cream treat was needed. I headed downtown to Toody's for my last ice cream treat of the season. Actually, this was my second "last ice cream treat of the season" as I had one in early October .... LOL! Anyway, I was not the only one that thought it was a good day for ice cream. I had lots of company!

I want to say thank you to all of you that have left such nice comments regarding my last post. I am still smiling about the sweet news that I was chosen as an AQS Blog of the Week. I do love this blogging thing and look forward to continuing for as long as I have something to say and share. That could be a loooooonnnng time!!

Have a good Monday!

Sandi