Quilt Caretaker

When a quilter gets to the age when they can no longer take care of themselves, and has to relinquish their worldly possessions, I think it's sad when that quilter has no-one to whom they can pass on their quilts.

I recently was given the opportunity to acquire some quilts by just such a quilter. Two of the quilts were very finely made, but in very poor condition. The third quilt was also very finely made - beautifully hand pieced and hand quilted with very tiny stitches. There is definitely some wear, but overall I decided it was a keeper. 

Here is a photo of the quilt I have adopted - the red and white Robbing Peter to Pay Paul, which I have paired with my Carolina Lily quilt, made by my paternal Grandmother. According to my mother, Grandma made two quilts in her lifetime - this one, beautifully constructed and hand quilted, and another quilt which she traded for a piece of furniture!

Back to the Robbing Peter to Pay Paul quilt - besides some fraying in the binding, and a few small tears, there were some brown spots, which I was mostly able to remove with Vintage Textile Soak. However, there was one spot on the quilt which I felt needed tending to. There is a hole that goes completely through all layers, as if it was poked with a rod.

 

I decided to patch the hole on both the front and the back. I am the lucky owner of my maternal Grandma's scrap bag (Grandma was born in 1896, so she had a nice time span of scraps). I got out her scraps, and was happy to find a scrap of solid red that was a pretty close match to the red fabric in the quilt, albeit without the wear. I appliquéd a small square of the red fabric to cover the hole on the front of the quilt.

And to patch the back, I used a piece of new homespun.

Here is the quilt back on the chair, with it's new patch. I think it blends well from afar, masking the unsightly hole.

I'm honored to be the caretaker of Lenore's quilt!

Until next time,

Martha