Not Forgotten

I am not one to purchase quilts from the past, made by quilters from earlier times.  Mostly because they are out of my price range, especially here on the west coast.  There's just not that many floating around to be found, and if they are, they usually very expensive.

Well, on the Quilt Run 101 last weekend, hubby and I stopped in one junk antique shop, only because it had some pink "Fenton" glass in the window.  We purchases a matching pair of pink hand painted vases, and while the clerk was packing up the vases, I came across a quilt, stuck under some other pieces of linen.  We dickered some, and I was able to pick it up for $35.  I am happy with the amount I paid, but it is almost shameful to get it at this low price considering all the labor, talent, and time that went in to making it.  At least I know that it will be cherished in its new home!

The quilt has nine embroidered butterflies with a type of log cabin framing around each block.

This is a close up of one of the blocks.

The backing is a yummy butter yellow.  The yellow shows off the quilting, which was done by hand on this quilt.

This shows off the butterfly.  The body of each butterfly was done in a satin stitch.  I had to look real close to see it was done by hand, because the embroider who did this, did it so well that it looked like it was done on a machine.

I love how the quilter added a small patch piece to finish out a row, not even bothering to try to match the colors.  

We all in blog land are always trying to achieve perfectiveness, and making things look like it was made in a factory.  But I just love the how this quilter made a wonderful work of art and didn't match the seams, didn't keep her blocks all one size, and filled in spaces with just slivers of fabric.  What character this quilt has, and will have in it's new home.

It does have a few worn places that I will have to do some work on, only because the fabric was loosely woven, and has shredded from age.  

I am by no means and expert in aging quilts, but if I were to guess, I would say the fabrics come from the 40's.  If anyone else who might know fabrics and the times they represent, please let me know if I am off my a century or two.

Warmest...

More Antique Quilts

Yesterday, I spoke about the wonderful antique quilts found in the Oncologist's waiting room.  After we were called back to the patient rooms,  we were genuinely surprised again with more quilts.

This was hanging on the wall in the area where the patients get weighed.  It is all done is silk squares.  As we all know, silk from back then did not hold up well through the years.  This one was not exception.  There is more shredding of the material at the top blocks than the ones at the bottom of the quilt.  All in all, it is still a fabulous piece using silk for the material.

This just lovely log cabin quilt was hanging over a love seat in the second waiting room (one for patients getting chemo.  If you look real hard there are some bed runners draped over the chairs opposite side of the love seat also done in the log cabin blocks and the same materials.  I think it is a complete set for a double bed.

This is a close up of one of the blocks in the above quilt.

The final surprise came when we were seated in the patient room.  The fabric looks like it came from the 30's.  At least the green borders look to be from that time era.  I not sure what the pattern is for the blocks, but it wouldn't be too hard to reproduce, if one would want to try this quilt.

Tis is a close up of the block used in this quilt.  

All of these quilts were hand stitched and hand quilted, making them more meaningful.  And, I still think these quilts are at home in this office, bringing comfort to those having to come for treatment.

Warmest...

Nice Doctor's Waiting Room

While visiting my folks these last two weeks, I had an opportunity go on a visit with them to see a doctor.  Let me tell you it was such a pleasant surprise to see the decor in this waiting room.  There were old, antique quilts everywhere.

These are not the best picture, but I wanted to show how they were hanging on the walls in the waiting room.  As you can see the ceilings are very high with windows way up high letting in the perfect light.

Here are the close ups of both quilts respectively, and it looks like the first one is a friendship quilt, where individuals made a block and stitched their names in the center, then bordered it with half square triangle blocks.  

The second one, each block is embroidered with each of the states flower and the name of the state below the flowers.  And, it looks like each block is bordered by flying geese blocks.

 This nice, scalloped quilt didn't appear to be as old, but it was all hand stitched and hand quilted.  This was one of my favorites in the waiting room.

This quilt was also hand stitched and hand tied.  It consisted of different kind of wools.  The backing was just a plain white muslin.

This piece was odd to me, as the dresden plate block was padded and sewn on a strip of fabric.  

Here is one on the back of another waiting room sofa.  It was just a hodge lodge of pieces sewn together, with not particular pattern.

I asked the receptionist about the quilts in the waiting room and she told me that the doctor's family had collected them over the years, and decided to display them in the office so they could enjoy them daily and share them with the patients.

This is a Oncologist, a cancer doctor, so I think the quilts bring great comfort to those going through this painful and heartbreaking times.

More tomorrow...

Warmest...