Quilting, memories saved..

This month we have been on a new adventure..

A dear friend of over 30 years who is now in her 80’s invited us to help her restore a quilt that is over 120 years old.  It was raveling because of the age of the fabrics.

This amazing quilt was hand done by her father’s mother..Back in those days her grandmother embroidered her children’s initials on separate blocks.

She also embroidered flowers on many of the squares. On one square there are little chicks. The whole quilt is pieced in the crazy quilt fashion and the pieces are ALL hand embroidered together.

Being a seamstress I noticed how well these fabrics have held up for over 120 years!

Very well made, high quality fabric.  The main fabrics that seemed to be in tatters was a black velvet that she embroidered some of her children’s initials on and a cream silk piece, where only the warp of the weave was left in tact, there was no weft or latitudinal weave left on that cream silk, interesting…

Also, being a needlewoman, the intricate embroidery stitches, and the variety of stitching, this dear woman was clearly a detail oriented woman. And a patient woman..she literally worked this quilt in patience.  She also was an industrious woman, this quilt was stitched on many a day and took many hours.

Being a mother this quilt speaks of a mother’s love for EACH of her children, how each is special and unique..This quilt is a treasure to my dear friend for many of these reasons on top of it’s visual beauty…

Another project she enlisted us to do was a little dutch girl quilt that her mother appliqued.  Many of the blocks were done by her mother and she enlisted some other women to make more to be enough for a quilt.  This quilt, we will stitch together with sashing and will put a back and then I will machine quilt it.

We are in process on this quilt, but it will be a precious memory of her mother to her.  She also mentioned to us how some of the fabrics she recognized from her childhood as her mother’s aprons and a neighbor lady’s aprons! How fun is that!

It is a joy to work on these because of their history and the love that is sewn into them.

It is also a joy to bring joy to our dear friend! She is a treasure to us! We love you Mama A!!!