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Wednesday, October 28, 2015

A Broderie Perse Dresden!

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One of our gals brought the most wonderful antique quilt top to show & share and I just went nuts over it.

We’ve all seen Dresden Plate quilts before – they were all the rage through the 1930s and into the 1940s.  A true classic of quilt making.

 But I know you’ve never seen one like this either!

The first thing I noticed was white fans on that typical sunny 1930s background.

And then I looked and thought all of those fans were fussy cut because they looked “striped” to me.

And when I got up close and personal?

Holy Moly!  There was a whole lot of fussy cutting of flowers and applique and embroidery going on!

We had to lay it out and get some close up looks:

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This is a summer spread, it was never quilted.

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WOW!

Every single flower you see here was cut out of 1930s floral prints and hand appliqued down.  Embroidered stems were added to each little bouquet.  I can’t imagine the amount of work or the time it took to do this whole quilt this way – it is extremely large!

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Check out that fan blade border!

Even the little flowers on the background were motifs cut from cloth and hand stitched onto the background as if a summer breeze had lifted them from the garden and deposited them in random fashion.

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Some of the fans have cream and white backgrounds mixed.

She must have just been using what she had!

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Each petal is different than the next with a different flower.

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Isn’t this just wonderful?

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It’s a garden of ingenuity!

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And the stitching isn’t perfect!

There is a reason that I took this close up shot of one of the blossoms –applique doesn’t have to be completely invisible to be beautiful.  It doesn’t have to be perfect to be perfectly wonderful.  Our maker used white thread to applique everything down in a close whipstitch.  This is a fabulous piece of workmanship!  We have to get over our pursuit of perfection and just let our imaginations soar, doing the best we can and not berating ourselves for our hand efforts and best tries.

Love it, make it, quilt it, rejoice that we did it!!

Yesterday for me started with book orders to the post office, and moved on to a drive to Charlotte to get my Global Entry interview over with.  It had to happen at a hub airport, so yes, off I went to the airport 80 miles away on a day I wasn’t flying because it was the only day on their calendar that would work with  mine.  Hopefully now I can more easily come in and out of the country and I should be getting TSA pre-check at least 90% of the time which will expedite the whole process.

I stopped at Bass Pro Shops to pick up some gear for Peru.  We are supposed to have long pants and long sleeved shirts in the hot hot jungle to protect from bugs and barbs and whatever else, so I got some quick-dry light weight hiking pants that can roll up to be capris, or stay long, and the legs zip off to be shorts if I so need them too – and they won’t be hot. Same with the shirt…long sleeve doesn’t have to mean hot and they had some that were uv protection.

Just a few more things to get and I’ll be ready for Peru!

It’s been raining steady since I got home from Washington ((It rained the last couple of days there too!)) and I wanted to share the sound of the rain on the new tin roof awning that the guys built while I was in Maine!

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Here you can see it going up!

That’s son Jeff on the top, helping his dad.

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This was on my one day home in between Maine and Washington!

I love it! Can’t wait to get some wicker out here..LOL!

But this is what it has sounded like since getting home – the most soothing sound!  There is nothing like the sound of rain on a tin roof!



Happy Wednesday, everyone!

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30 comments:

  1. Is there anything more soothing than rain falling on a tin roof!!!

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  2. oh yes--sleepy time weather--love the sound of rain on the roof or anywhere for that matter :-) and that quilt---mercy me--that is a lot of work....that is just awesome...I would like to be the owner ;-) have a great day, Bonnie

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  3. What a truly lovely sound! I'm glad the "boys" installed it for you.

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  4. IN all my years of looking at antique quilts I have never seen a Dresden Plate like this one. Wow! Thanks a million for posting this. I love following you through antique stores.

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  5. Thanks for the close up photos. I recognized one of the flowers as being present on feed sack fabric I have. Maybe that's why the maker went to all the trouble of appliqueing flowers onto Dresden wedges, as the feed sack fabric itself is rather coarse, and she wanted a finer fabric for her quilt. Whatever her reason, it is a lovely quilt and a testament to the maker's perseverance!

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  6. Anonymous11:05 AM EDT

    The quilt is incredible! I can't imagine the time that went into making it.
    Bonnie, I especially appreciate your words of encouragement. "We have to get over our pursuit of perfection and just let our imaginations soar, doing the best we can and not berating ourselves for our hand efforts and best tries.

    Love it, make it, quilt it, rejoice that we did it!!" I needed to hear that today.

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  7. What an amazing quilt! I've never seen anything like it. Whoever found it and owns it has a real treasure!

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  8. Thank you for sharing photos of that spectacular quilt, and your point about less-than-perfect applique can still be beautiful. Maybe I'll stop avoiding it. :)

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  9. I'm amazed at all the tiny pieces she cut and stitched. She must have really liked Yellow!
    Rainy Days are perfect Sew days for me. Have fun packing for Peru.

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  10. what a wonderful treasure, just when you think you've seen it all something new appears. Love it! Owner should have it documented with one of the big museums, they love finding unique items. Have a ball in Peru, take bug spray! Cheers

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  11. I am sooo glad you posted close ups of the Dresden plate! Your previous post left me wondering what it actually looked like. It was beautiful! As was the sound of the rain!

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  12. Thank you for the video. It was so peaceful!

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  13. I have a pile of round edge dresden plates from the 50s to applique !

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  14. What a treasure quilt! All the handwork is beautiful!
    Love the sound of rain! We could use some of that here in California!!

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  15. That quilt stood out in yesterday's slide show as impressive. But I had no idea as to the details! Perhaps it was a group effort? Lovely work!

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  16. This Californian is loving the sound of your rain!

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  17. We had a tiny bit of rain here the dry San Francisco Bay Area not enough but a taste, more forcast yippee
    Your tin roof will give you great joy and nice noise the sounds of nature are so good for us

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  18. the quilt looks ver special...and very pretty!

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  19. That quilt is spectacular. I made me think of "Patty's Patchwork", a short story by Louisa M Alcott. Perhaps this quilt, or part of it was stitched by a little girl learning the art from her Mama or Auntie. Thank you Bonnie for the sweet words of encouragement you always give us to be gentle with ourselves as we are gentle to others.

    Thank you for the lovely rain on the tin roof video. I am betting that there will be the rhythmic music of a treadle joining in the future.

    For those who would like to read the story, here is a link: http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/11297/

    Have a hankie ready.

    debiwinchester@frontier.com



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  20. Dana Grigonis6:44 AM EDT

    WOW indeed with the quilt. Beautiful. And the rain on the roof is good when you don't have to go out in it!!

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  21. Bonnie, I'll bet you are dreaming of using that new covered porch with one of your treadles next Spring/Summer.
    That quilt with all the applique was beautiful. All that wonderful loving work put into it must have taken forever.
    Enjoy the rain! And your trip to Peru. I have an Aunt down in Lima somewhere.

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  22. What a gorgeous quilt find iT is just awesome. Love it Thanks for THE beautiful close up pictures.
    Great video of THE rain iT sure was pouring. I have a Skype light window on our roof iT also sounds great when we have rain. IT sure looks wonderful on your porch. Thanks Bonnie and happy quilting. Yoka B

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  23. When I went to listen to the rain on your video, I was disappointed to find I was made to hear a political ad. Did you okay that?

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  24. Holy Moly! Thanks so much for sharing. What a treasure. I've added pictures to my 'Antique Quilts' board on Pinterest.

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  25. The rain was wonderful....here in Southern California we are needing rain....good to hear the sound!

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  26. When we roofed our home with tin we were told it would drive us nuts with the noise. Never....I too love the soothing sound of rain on the roof. Get the fire going in the stove, a pot of soup simmering and I am ready to stay home and quilt or curl up with a good book. Love it!

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  27. Hi Bonnie- what a thrill to find a roof over the deck when you got home! I too, love the sound of rain on the roof, so soothing. I loved listening to the rain on the shingled roof of our cabin in the woods. A few years later we had moved into the main cottage and planned a metal roof to thwart the raccoons who were becoming a problem. I was so disappointed that it wasn't noisier! There's not much insulation up there but certainly enough to dull the sound that I was expecting! No more problem with raccoons on the roof though!
    Take care, Jill
    Jill7leslie@gmail.com

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  28. That quilt is positively stunning!!

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  29. Very amazing quilt; thanks for sharing!

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  30. Anonymous3:01 AM EDT

    Stunning handwork in that quilt! Thank you for the encouraging words about our handiwork, it's refreshing to accept that we don't need to be so hard on ourselves. And, that rain.... <3 .... nothing more soothing than the sound of rain on a metal roof..

    Marci

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