>>>>

Monday, April 15, 2013

A bit of Pennsylvania Pink, Yellow & Blue!

There are certain things that are quintessential PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH to me.

And I captured images of these things to share with you during my time in Pennsylvania.  I hope you enjoy them!

This one had me catching my breath as I calmly made my way down the aisle and tried very hard to just look “mildly curious” enough to want to inspect it further.

It was hard not to drool on this quilt!!

I let my fingers trail lightly over the stitches --channeling the maker and seeing how she used each scrap, turning some of the 4 patches this way, and some of the 4 patches that way --looking at her color and fabric choices and wondering just which scrap was left from which article of clothing she made for herself or for her family and other loved ones.

THIS is PA Dutch to me.  Double Pink plus Chrome Yellow plus Prussian Blue plus scraps in every other color put to good use in an awesome quilt of its time period --- about 1870.


PA_April2013 184

I very carefully removed the quilt from the stand and laid it out to give it a good once over.  Diagonal quilting.  Very nice…but don’t you wonder about those pink stripes? They were pieced into the border before the border was added and the quilt was quilted….they are not patches that were added as repair later.  INTERESTING!

I began to wonder if this was a Mennonite made quilt ---the wide border relates it closely to a Lancaster, PA Amish quilt ---only this is prints, not solids.  It could be! 

PA_April2013 186

Close up of the luscious fabrics!

PA_April2013 187

Another treat!  The backing is pieced in wide stripes, another very PA Dutch thing to do!

You can see that the front was brought around to the back to bind.  What a treasure!  This one was priced at close to $400, and didn’t come home with me……but I’m so glad I got to see it!

PA_April2013 192
Pink & Yellow Crib Quilt!

This one I think had fabrics in it from a span of different periods of time.  The double pink and the yellow are definitely old, but some of the prints in the 9 patches looked more towards 1930s to me.

PA_April2013 193

It’s that white fabric that looks “newer” to me.
1920s? 1930s?
((Siobhan, are you reading me today?!))

PA_April2013 195

The white /blue print in this one also does not look as old as the double pink or the yellow border fabrics.

PA_April2013 194

Close up of the pinks and yellow.

And then there is THIS one…WOW!

PA_April2013 205
Oh!  SIGH!!

Pink, Yellow, and Blue…..just color me happy!  I love the simplicity of this one, both in the large scale of the blocks, and the simplicity of the diagonal quilting.  What a yummy quilt!

PA_April2013 206
Closer Up!

PA_April2013 207

Great fabrics and diagonal quilting.

PA_April2013 208 

The backing was a textured yarn dyed plaid.  What a great surprise!

It was so neat to see these three quilts, possibly dating from the same time period having the same basic color schemes. Pink, Yellow & Blue sprinkled liberally with scrappy bits of everything else in the scrap bag!

And it just goes to show you that really great quilts do not have to have a gazillion difficult blocks, or fancy fabrics!  These humble quilts came out of the scrap bags of hard working industrious women who made quilts from the leftovers of every day household sewing to keep their families covered and warm.

This is exactly what quilting is about to me!

14 comments:

  1. They are beautiful. Lovely colours, nice to imagine the quilter making them all those years ago.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous9:04 AM EDT

    Weuse WOW alot, but these deserve it. Ii love the Amish area of PA. Colors everywhere.
    Both look like Bonnie quilts to melol.

    Good sharing, thanks.
    Smiles
    JulieinTN

    ReplyDelete
  3. Lovely Quilts Bonnie, thanks for sharing
    Gwen

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for getting close to these and sharing the pictures. I feel a bit too embarrassed to unfold and take full pictures at Thrift stores. Glad you have no qualms about spreading them out. They make you want to dig into the scrap bag, huh?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I too am a bit shy to spread quilts out. I do make pictures and I am getting braver. Thank you, Bonnie and Mary!

      Delete
  5. That first one is fantastic, and so interesting with those added strips. A mystery! I love this color combination with the chrome, pink and blue! Awesome! Thanks for sharing these!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Anonymous10:59 AM EDT

    What treasures to enjoy!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi Bonnie! Yes I'm reading you today (no surprise there!) On the crib quilt I don't think I'd go as late as the 1930's...I would most likely estimate it circa 1910. (gives me 15 years on either side so turn of the centry to the 1920's) I have several quilts with that peach fabric and a clear white that are from turn of the century. All of them are nice quilts but that last one really grabbed me...then I realized I have a similar one from Penn done ind reds, blacks and Lancaster blues!

    ReplyDelete
  8. You made me very happy with your pictures of the antique quilts today. My favorite quilts.

    ReplyDelete
  9. So amazing to see these quits. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  10. So I am totally seeing the cheddar, pink, little four patches as a challenge.... LOVE IT!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Lovely quilts, thanks for sharing your pictures.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I think every one of these quilts is beautiful! And I love that you pointed out we don't have to fill our homes with quilts that all have difficult, time consuming blocks. It's wonderful to have some of them and also to enjoy the process of making the more difficult quilts, but I am starting to make more of the simple patterns and amazingly, they are almost always everyone's favorites. Right now, I'm trying to decide on what style quilt to make my grandson for his wedding, we raised him so he is more like our son...he proposed just 3 days ago and in all honesty, I'm leaning toward a simple pattern, possibly Churn Dash and relying on a nice combination of their favorite colors to make it interesting and beautiful. His is black and hers is purple...I think there is a lot that I can do with a range of those color choices, I hope! Thanks for sharing these glorious quilts with us. Hugs...

    ReplyDelete
  13. I love these! Thanks so much for sharing with us! I am also curious about those pink rectangles/stripes in the first quilt. Perhaps the maker knew the value of her work and had a sense of humor.. "I'm gonna throw in these odd bits just to confuse the future quilters!"

    ReplyDelete

If you are commenting as "anonymous" please leave your name at the end of your comment.

Did you know that ad space on this blog provides for all of the free patterns and free mysteries and challenges at no cost to you? Without ads, this blog would not be possible.

Thank you for understanding the many hours that go into this blog 6 days a week, 52 weeks a year. :)