Antique Quilt Sightings!

I’ve seen some BEAUTIES this trip! And I’ll be on the look out for more – in fact, I have an appointment on Tuesday morning on my way home ---in New Paltz!

You know, it’s amazing the people you meet when you think you are just out there minding your own business and doing your own thing.

Yesterday, after the lecture, Carolynn asked if I’d like to grab a bite of lunch in the school cafeteria ----let’s just say that my healthy choice of chef’s salad was balanced out by my UN-healthy choice of the hugest Black/White cookie EVER! But I needed it ;c)

The day was really beautiful outside, and we spotted an empty bench at a table, and we joined a goup of ladies who were also lunching. Introductions and conversations led to me discovering that one of my new lunch friends was the director of Exhibits, educational and public programs for historic Huguenot Street, a national historic landmark district in New Paltz, NY!

We spent quite a bit of time talking about the fabulous antique quilts in the collection, and she invited me over for a private tour! OOOHHHHH! YOU BETCHA! So I have that to look forward to on Tuesday as I begin my drive home. I hope she will let me do a blog post with photos ----from what she was saying, I’m in for a treat!

I’ve come to realize that I really DO live in a hotbed of antique quilt affordability in NC. The farther north I go, the rarer these beautiful treasures are, and they can get costly. At this point I’m just glad that photos are FREE – and let’s face it --- we certainly can NOT buy them ALL! Where would I put them?! ((That space is being occupied by machines! LOL!)

The simple blue chambray and shirting 9 patch variation in the top photo of this post was $450.00 It was a very nice quilt but not extremely early ---and the trend continued through the antique mall with prices just being….REALLY!? It’s not that I don’t think the quilts are worth that --- of course they are. They are worth far more than that if we really want to talk about time and effort, but just much more than what I am used to in my area.

Just a simple burgundy and white sugar bowl variation. This would be a cool one for setting an alternate block in that wide open space, wouldn’t it?

Double wedding rings are always classic. I loved the mix of fabrics in this one --- not just florals and pretty things, it had plaids and stripes and everythig under the sun. Fabrics are from about 1950.

Speaking of Double Wedding Ring – did you register to win the free Double Wedding Ring package from Inklingo yet? Click to THIS POST to read about it, and click the icon in the post to get you to the right spot! You’ve got a week to register, and it’s a great give-away!

1930’s Flower Garden!

I have lots of questions on how I’m going to finish the edges of my hexie quilt. Here’s one way! Do you see how she filled in the sides of the quilt with half flowers? And then the whole thing is apliqued to a solid blue border….this is one way of preserving that picot edge.

The quilting on this one was really nice ----what’s not to like about blue and white with a bit of yellow? YUMMY!

Here’s another flower garden with a BOUND edge…yes, there is separate binding that goes around each and every side of those outside hexagons! I don’t want to think about how long this took…but this maker did a super job as well. Those hexes are hand quilted 1/4” or so from every seam in every hexagon. WOW!

Can you see that texture? I thought the beige color was interesting ---

Here you can see the binding against the backing fabric --- it does give a nice finish.

As for my hexie quilt? I’ll deal with it when I get there. I have a feeling I’m going to just turn the backing in to meet the edge of the hexagons and blind stitch it closed – it won’t have binding at all….it will just END. That’s a “knife edge” finish. I’ve done it before and it works well. Not every quilt needs a formal binding.

This one was fairly shredded…..hanging on a room divider screen. LOVE the double pinks…and the positivie/negative thing going on. At first I thought it was shoo-fly blocks with sashing, but look again! It’s X blocks in positive/negative set on point! It’s how the corners of the blocks come together that clued me in --- do you see it? What a sweet traditional quilt.

Drunkard’s Path units are so versatile! I love how graphic this is in two fabrics. But you’d have to shoot me before I’d ever make one! I’ve GOT to have more fabrics going into a quilt than just TWO!

A sweet dresden plate in 30’s prints. Love the plate blade border….don’t they look like neck ties? :cD

Simple squares on point…..this is somewhere between 1920 and 1930 --- not a lot of florals, mostly solids and shirting stripes and plaids. Love the coral and purple together! This would be SUCH a great quilt in two colors as well…..SIMPLE and simply awesome!

What’s not to love about classic bow-ties! I love these whenever I see them, but early turn-of-the-century ones with their plaids and stripes and mourning prints and burgundy resists and indigos --- LOVE LOVE LOVE!

Beautiful lone star in wonderful solids!

Isn’t this pattern called something like “Old Grey Goose” or similar? I love how this looks when the blocks are turned – asymmetrical blocks are a favorite for me. But do you see how that one block looks so different from the others? The goose units are turned upside down and the center hour-glass unit is rotated --- was that intentional? Did it mean something to the maker? We will ever know! This one had REALLY GREAT fan quilting ---

What I really loved about this one was the pink plaid backing that was also folded to the front as binding. Just a bit of something unsuspected because the quilt was so black/red on the front! I love backing surprises!

And you know, there is always one thing that does NOT come home with me. I wish this one could have --- but the wiring was SO brittle ---

It says BAMBERGER’S on it!

I was curious enough to do a search on Bambergers --- it was a huge department store in Newark NJ ---eventually bought by Macy’s. This is a “badged” machine --- meaning it was made by another company, but sports the name of Bambergers on it as its “brand”. It’s likely a japanese singer knock-off. It was only $25, but I knew it would take a fortune to rewire it and I"m still waiting for "Joe Cool" to be rewired. ((Yes, I hear my treadle-on friends saying – JUST TREADLE IT and no wiring would be needed!!)) But doesn’t that badge look SO 1950s?!

Am I going to regret not picking this one up for $25? I checked..under that dust and grime she is beautiful and shiny --- oh --- sigh ----

I’m about to head off to the Somer’s Show for my lecture this morning ----a bit more vendors mall shopping ---and tomorrow is a “Jared Takes A Wife” workshop --- and in between it all, I’m getting closer to having those Nearly Insane blocks knocked out!

Happy Sunday, Everyone! I’ve got some drawing to do this evening!

There is still time to register for the Quiltmaker 100 Blocks vol 5 as well by clicking HERE!

I think this is a record --- there are 859 comments as I type this post! WOW!

Tomorrow Eve I’ll be drawing for the winners of Pat Sloan’s “Focus On The Center” book ---if you haven’t registered yet, go leave a comment on that post!