As August comes to a close, I have much to be thankful for.  Before my guys all disperse to schools throughout the globe, I got to have some quality time with them.  We just came back from a wonderful week away in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.  It was amazing to get all of my “boys” in one place for the week.  We also brought our 3 year old dog, Annie, who loves all the attention she gets.  This year we rented a house on a lake and that turned out to be so much fun.  Annie especially loved swimming in the clear fresh water.  Her favorite activity was swimming out to catch a tossed tennis ball.  She also liked swimming after me when I was on the kayak, but lucky for her, I didn’t go too far towards the center of the lake.  Oh I wish we had a lake near our home all year long!!

On the last day of our vacation, some of my guys wanted to visit some antique shops.  I’m always game for that and naturally, went in search of quilts.  This one quilt caught my eye first.  Is it even a “quilt” or a blanket, since it doesn’t have actual quilting lines?  Either way, I love the crazy mix of random old fabrics.  It wasn’t in fabulous condition but was only $50.00.  Nope, I didn’t buy it, but I do admire it nonetheless.  Someone talented could bring this thing to life, but that wasn’t going to be me.   However, I sure would love to see it restored.  I don’t have the patience or the skills for this job, but hopefully someone will see it for the special piece that it is.

You need to see the detail up close.  Look at this half square triangle design that’s purely random.   The quilt seemed to be twin-size, but I wasn’t able to open the whole thing.  Notice that the maker didn’t worry about perfect points.  It’s always refreshing to see that perfection wasn’t the goal back in those days!  The fabrics look to be from many different years, which is usually the case with quilters who hoarded fabric over the decades and eventually repurposed them.  The quilt had stains, but overall it was in fair condition.  Now, looking at the photos, I see some fabrics that appear to be from the 40’s, but some could be older.

I love the mix of fabrics but keep wanting to regroup them to have some order.  That’s not the point with this beauty and I know it.

This is the back of the quilt that was marked on sale for $50.  Imagine all this work to make the thing and it sells for less than the cost of materials!

There were several other quilts, but I didn’t bring any home with me.  I’m always up for viewing and seeing them up close, but I don’t need to collect old quilts.   I have always been partial to log cabin quilts and this design was striking.   Can’t you just imagine Abraham Lincoln standing next to this one?

The little embroidered star in the center square was a great addition to this striking quilt.  It looked very old.  I am no expert and can’t really date an actual quilt, but I have fun using my imagination.  In my mind, it’s from the Civil war period.  Ok, maybe I’m wrong but that’s what I’m sticking with.  The quilt had been restored in a few areas, but it was clearly made by someone skilled.  The piecing was all done by hand, as we would expect in those days.  I especially love the dark blue logs that you see on the left side.  I’m guessing that the artist ran out of the lime green color.  The dark blue is my favorite part because it was clearly done for practicality but resulted in an added design element.  I adore this quilt and it would be a treasure for a collector or someone knowledgeable.

Here you can really see the fabric lines up close.   I imagine the blue center squares were repurposed from an old jacket.  Don’t you just love that center flower?

As you can see, this quilt was going for much more money than the first, but it was truly beautiful.  In the left photo you can see that someone tried to restore the binding.  The fabric used for the backing was a great choice, but it looks as though it bled.  That’s just another hint that this quilt may be very old, since those turkey-reds would always be the first colors to run.  I’m so glad to have been able to handle this quilt and view it up close.  I would love to have seen it on a flat surface, but it was a treat either way.

As the month of August comes to a close, it’s time for me to send my final star blocks to Covered In Love.  Every month or two a particular block design is requested.  The months of July and August were devoted to red, white and blue star blocks.  In addition to the ones that I already shared in a brief post, here are more of the the 21 blocks that I am sending to Kat.  They all look different because I used up scraps, orphaned blocks and lots of little pieces that have been lying around my studio.  I can’t wait to see how gorgeous the final group quilts will turn out.

Linking up to:

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