WOW!
These were so great to see up close and personal. I’m guessing these to be somewhere between 1850 to 1870 ---someone else may have a closer date.
But what amazed me more than the blocks themselves…..was how MANY of them were frugal-pieced! Tiny bits, stitched together, some with as many as 3 seams…to make up a square that measured approximately 1” finished.
Seams in block pieces are often found. But how many women are careful enough to want to match the print so the seams are nearly invisible when viewed from the top??
Look at this one…it is my favorite:
Can you see the seams?
How about now?
Closer still!
And from the back!
Little stitches, needled by hand by Susan’s Great Grandmother – how precious it is to have these, to hold what she held in her hands oh, so many years ago.
I’ve added more photos here….if you can’t view the slide show, click the photo below to view the entire album:
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| Great Grandma's Nine Patch, St Charles, IL 2013 |
12 comments:
What a treasure! You almost hate to enclose those myriad of seams in a quilt, sealing them off from view. What a thrifty woman to save all those itty bitty pieces.
We are a bit spoiled by an excess of accessible fabric...how many of mus would frugally piece those little patches!
Qiute a treasure to have, and from the own family. :-)
Just to have kept it for so many years...
To see these blocks is a rare treat, I have some hand sewing done by my maternal great grandmother. It is wrapped in acid free tissue and tucked away for my granddaughter
I thought I was frugal but I can see I've got nothin' on Susan's great-grandmother! The blocks are fabulous, and that her ancestor made them adds to their preciousness. Thanks for sharing them.
Great Granma was a very frugal and very neat lady, I think. The blocks are such a family treasure. Like you said, to hold them, feel the texture and see the stitches is like talking directly to her over the span of years.
I hope some of my perhaps unfinished blocks will be as well loved and treasured as Great Granma's are.
THANK YOU for sharing this very special moment with us.
JulieinTN
Thanks, Bonnie, for sharing my great-grandmother's blocks with your quilting community. I feel very lucky to have these tangible pieces of my family history.
The colors are so vibrant! It would be interesting to know why they were never put together.
What an embarrassment of riches we have today as quilters! We have modern sewing machines, so much available fabric, irons that heat up without building a fire in the woodstove, lots of choices of thread, and most of all, all our labor-saving devices that give us the TIME to quilt, too.
I love the story of these blocks and agree that they are to be treasured. I think she might appreciate it if they were stitched into a quilt as she intended. Do you know her name? I think I would like to know that.
Dear JaneB,
Her name was Addie Cook, and she was a divorced mother of two girls, my grandmother Ollie Hartline and my Aunt Cora Gorman.
Best,
Susan
You are so blessed to have and to hold such a treasure. Perhaps many quilters will leave UFO's that will inspire those that come after them to share and sew into quilts. I am so thankful you shared with me.
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