Slim Pickin’s!

I’m home…..but man am I brain dead!

I left Hershey about 7:30am this morning, and rolled in to my own driveway in Winston Salem, NC at 3:30pm – the only stops I made were for gas, restroom, and a quick pick me up of a caramel sundae and a large unsweet iced tea with lemon from a Mc Donalds on the way home….

I was a girl on a mission!  Get here as quickly as possible, don’t dawdle, there is so much stuff to do to get ready for Alaska!

First priority on the agenda?  A three hour nap so I had the energy to WANT to unload Shamu who contained all of the pieces parts and detritus of 10 days on the road.

All of which is now piled in my living room for sorting, putting away, washing and repacking for Alaska on Wednesday morning.

I spent last night making sure my traveling hexi busy bag is stocked with the colors of hexies I need for two nearly back to back trips to Alaska.  There will be plenty of airplane stitching and sleeping time there.

This was the WEIRDEST road trip of all times in the antiquing department.  Talk about SLIM PICKIN’S!  There were no really outstanding antique quilts, and the machines were few and hard to find….and PRICY!

NO machines came home with me this trip – ((I’m rather proud of myself over this fact – even though it was not due to my own restraint, but lack of candidates in the machine-adoption department!))

But there were some heart warming well loved and used examples of ordinary every day quilts that have stood the test of time, their softness and sweet fabrics beckoning to be touched and petted, reminiscent of the time period when they were created….imagine this quilter putting in the last stitches in the binding on this sweet large 9 patch quilt out of dress fabrics:

The lovely soft 1930s prints from the scrap bag, the painstaking cross hatch quilting design being the one thing that has helped this quilt to survive over the past 80 or so years.  I love the simplicity of it!  Who’s bed did it grace?  Who’s dreams did it keep secret watch over?

A very rather offset Grandmother’s Flower Garden….

Several different pinks were used to surround each hexie rosette. Was this intentional?  I can see at least 3 different pinks on this quilt….was it what she had on hand?  Did she get so tired of this quilt that she decided just to NOT put a path in…and assembled them as is?

Sweet 1930s fabrics again, prints and solids with stripes that go any which way they desire!

Red and white Log Cabin!

While photographing the quilt, I noticed there was more than one red…..but I didn’t even notice until inserting the photo into this post that those lighter reds are strategically placed down the center panel!  Wouldn’t you like to pick this quilter’s brain?

Borders on just the long sides only make this quilt wide enough to fit wherever it was going to live…….isn’t it fun to speculate?

Humble Shoo-flies and stars over a cupboard door.

Every day ordinary quilts meant to keep those the quilter loved warm and wrapped in love.  Not all quilts need to be destined for Houston or Paducah --- Some receive a more valuable prize for the comfort they bring.

1930’s –1940s Poppy Applique…

This was a large medallion quilt, with no where to spread it out.  I looked to see if there were the infamous “blue dots” that would show that this was a “kit quilt” from that time period, but the lighting wasn’t good enough …..Very skilled stitches, and delicate embroidered details:

Someone loved sitting and executing very delicate details on on this beauty…see the little stitches on the leaves, the stems, the flower centers?

Graphic 9 patch on point, with a periwinkle star alternate block.

The blue in this one is the only print – everything else is a solid, and I’m guessing 1950s…..it’s all cotton, and just didn’t ring 1960s or later to me..but I could be wrong.  It’s hard with solid fabrics, especially red to know.  But how great this would look in a boys room in that time period!

The pickin’s may have been slim, but it was still worth it to wander and wonder and appreciate all the hours that went into these….I do believe there is real beauty in simplicity!

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