Poor Old Quilts

Yesterday I spoke with a man that I have known for many years and he has always admired my quilts, commenting about them every time I put a new one up in my office.    He told me that he was selling some of his mother's things and that she had some quilts he wanted to sell but he didn't know how much they were worth.   I told him that I would love to look at them so he dropped them off for me to view.   I knew that he was a smoker and wondered if I would be able to handle the smell, not being a smoker myself and always hating the smoke odor.   What I didn't know was that his mother and sister who lived with him for over 20 years are ALL chain smokers!  When he dropped the quilts off, they were all in plastic bags.  Plastic bags that were supposed to be CLEAR!   These were yellow/brown. Oh man......   

  I didn't know what to do with them.  They were stinking up the whole office and I couldn't put them outside because it was raining and I certainly didn't want to put them in my car.   I finally decided to put them all into a giant trash bag and tie it up.   That pretty much worked.    When I got them home, I just left them out in the garage and opened the bag up and took one out.   Now, I know you're not supposed to wash old quilts in the washing machine but I considered this quilt to be completely worthless the way it was and I even know people that would have just taken the whole lot straight to the dumpster, so I just stuck it in the washing machine and added soap and turned it on.   Ok... so I didn't really agitate it.   I smashed the quilt down with my hand (big mistake.... I couldn't get the smell out of my skin! *GAG*).   I soaked and rinsed and pushed, and soaked and rinsed and pushed for a couple of hours.   The water was BROWN over and over again.  Hubby wanted me to put some bleach in the water.. lol.     Finally, it seemed like it might be getting cleaner.   So I layed it out on the living room floor and let it dry overnight.   It still has an odor and the white parts are not white, but I think it now might be worth something.  



 It's a grandmother's flower garden and probably made in the 30s or 40s.   One of the fabrics is deteriorated and there are some brown spots on the front and back.   But here it is. 
Poor old thing....   It could still use another washing,  but overall, not a bad quilt.    I'll take it to my friend that collects old quilts.   I don't think she'll want it, but maybe can give me an idea of what it's worth. 

I think there are still 4 or 5 quilts in the bag and there are several crocheted items, including a huge bed covering and some embroidered doilies.    I'll just take care of them one at a time and see what's there and how much is worth saving, for the love of quilting......

Twin Quilters

A funny thing happened today.    This week I submitted my Spider Web Scrappy Quilt  on the Quilting Gallery blog's weekly contest which was about Scrap Quilts this week.   

On Fridays they put up all the submitted quilts and then viewers vote on the ones they like best.    Well, this morning I went to take a look at the quilts and found that there was another quilt like mine!    And the other one was made by another Kathy!    Our quilts are almost exactly the same.   Mine has black borders around the spider webs and hers has purple, but both quilts have cream colored backgrounds and a piano key border.   I didn't know I had a quilting twin!    She lives in Canada and has a blog which you can see HERE.    I emailed her to tell her about this funny coincidence and she emailed me back right away.  She wrote about it on her blog, too!  And like she says,  it's fun to think that two strangers with the same name, making the same quilts, calling them the same thing, and then post them on the same website.   Don't you just love coincidences!   

Nine Patch Wreathes

I have been  in several block exchanges where everyone made 9 patch blocks, which means I have LOTS of 9 patch blocks.    I decided to use them as a sashing in an applique quilt that I'd been working on forever.   The blocks were all wreathes so I put them in a setting with the 9 patches and this is the result.   I believe it will fit a full sized bed.   My mom is the only one I know that has a full sized bed (in her guest room).   Maybe she'll get this for Christmas... shhhh.. don't tell her.   By the way, she already has 9 or 10 quilts that I've made....    heh

I still have LOTS of 9 patches left!   It might be awhile till I get to them.   

Secret Sister Quilt

I know... I know...  It's been FOREVER since I've added anything to my blog.  I have guilt...  but I've decided to try again to record my never ending quilt making.   First I want to update my blog with a few projects I've made this past year.

Last year my mini group did  Secret Sisters throughout the year with the Christmas party as the 'reveal' of the Sisters and the delivery of quilts made for the Sisters.   My 'sister' was a lady named Carolyn.    Carolyn has very specific likes and it was so much fun getting things for her throughout the whole year because I knew she was going to love everything!   But.. the best part was making her a quilt.    She loves applique and she loves traditional quilting.    It had been awhile since I had done any hand applique so I was jazzed about the project.    I did the technique of turning the edge of the applique pieces with starch and gluing the pieces down then just hand sewing everything.   It went together super fast and I had all the blocks done in January.   Then all I did was give her one a month until September.   I then sent her an 'official' letter from the Quilt Police telling her she must return the blocks to their original owner for signatures (according to the Quilt Police,  you're not allowed to get blocks from someone without them signing them first).   Here is the 'official' letter....

 

Here is the finished quilt.... 

How cute is that.. eh?

Needless to say.. she loved it.  

Cathy's Quilts

 A friend of my mom's in Phoenix asked me to make some quilts for her and her kids from her husbands shirts.  He had passed away a couple of years ago and she decided she didn't want to get rid of his shirts and a quilt was a good way to preserve his shirts in memory. She said he had mostly plaid shirts and there were several blue solid shirts.   I designed several quilts for her to chose from and this was her choice.  She wanted a Cal King,  pillow shams and 5 throws.    Her husband was  a big guy so I had plenty of fabric.   

 Cutting up the shirts was pretty time consuming but when everything was cut up, there was lots of fabric! This is only a small section of the cut up shirts. 

 Here are the pieces for all of the quilts.... labeled and ready to sew together.

 Here is a block...   multiply that times 230.  That sounds like alot, but it really went pretty fast.  

 Here is the layout for the Cal King quilt.   Everything in the quilt is made from shirts except the white fabric.  

 Here is the quilt top on our spare bed which is a queen so the quilt hung almost to the floor.  

This is one of the throws all finished.   I guess I didn't get a good picture of the Cal King quilt finished.  As you can see the blue in this quilt is darker than the other quilts.   There were several colors of blue shirts to use for the alternate blocks.  

Needless to say, she loved her quilts and her kids were so happy with the quilts and the memories of their dad.  

Triple Irish Chain

A couple years ago I started this little quilt using a packet of batiks I got from a Road to California trip.   I made the top (minus borders) and decided I didn't like the background fabric  so I just put it 'out of sight, out of mind'.  I ran across it the other day and decided to just go ahead and finish it.   So I added the border and quilted it.  Now I like it, but I still think I'll give it to one of the Community Service projects my guild is doing.   I did a loopy free motion quilt pattern on it so I had fun doing it as a practice piece.   That's something I need desperately... practice on my Handiquilter.  

Finally finished

I finally finished my flower quilts for the office.   It was a trial and even though I love them now, it took me a long time to LIKE them while I was working on them.   I don't use fusible web very often but I thought it might be a good choice for these so I could topstitch the pieces down.  Well, my sewing machine doesn't like fusible any better than I do and it let me know all about it... with skipped stitches and knots on the back of the quilt.   Ugh... frustration!   But... I finally tried a topstitch needle and silicone on the thread and it did well enough that I could finish the project.   They are hanging in the office now and everyone loves them.   I've even had several people ask if they could buy them...   People just don't realize how much work goes into a project like that so I don't think I could even sell them for the time and effort it took to make them.   Anyway,  I'll keep them...   they look good.