I was lucky enough to have a break in my schedule on Thursday ---no class was scheduled in Weatherford, just a lecture on Thursday evening.
What’s a girl to do when she has a day off?
She accepts an invite out to lunch and antique mall hopping! Whoot!
We saw some lovely utility quilts –great scraps, fabulous quilting texture.
This Apple Core quilt was made possibly in the 1940s, though there are a lot of 1930s fabrics included as well. Can you imagine? Tracing each shape, cutting each one out with scissors, piecing all those curves, placing fabrics just so…and then the quilting!
The batting was very thick – this quilt was meant to keep loved ones warm. And the quilting:
You can see the shape of each patch, echoed and echoed again!
Simple cheery nine patches on yellow!
Simple straight line quilting gets the job done and keeps family members warm through the winter!
And yes, I know it is Texas – but it does get cold there. It was all of 34 degrees and drizzling when we drove me back to the airport on Friday morning – warm quilts are needed.
This is Dianne! My shopping partner and chauffer extraordinaire!
Isn’t this a sweet nine patch in a 4 patch quilt? Look at that fan quilting! Wide green sashings with bright orange cornerstones..yowza!
Fully unfolded. No top border! Look at those fans!
Snow Balls!
Early 1900s through 1920s fabrics in this one ---this is a precision piecing project, those squares are all inset between the octagons ---simply beautiful! I see lots of masculine fabrics in this one – could the maker have been a mother of all boys?
This is interesting! Does anyone know the pattern for this one?
1920’s - 1930s Crazy Anne!
And it makes ME crazy when shops bundle up a portion of the quilt for hanging – don’t they know we want to see the WHOLE THING!? I can just imagine how certain patterns fell out of favor around the WWII era. What was once a traditional quilt pattern became taboo as Nazism became known, and designs once known as Crazy Anne, Fly-foot and others were tucked away in cupboards.
A well loved Album quilt with HUGE blocks!
Another utility quilt style I just love…sashings do not frame the outside of the quilt, and there are no borders..it just ends where it ends…almost like the blocks are not contained and they could just all off the edge. Very simple quilting, just to get the job done. Notice the Crazy Anne behind it…very simple quilting here too..straight lines in the sashing and also in the blocks, but some blocks are quilted differently than others…look at both pictures…the one in the Album block pic here has different quilting than the photo above! I just noticed!
It’s nice to have a second pair of hands to help with photos! Usually I am trying to find a place on a floor to lay a quilt out!
Eight pointed star in 1920s fabrics ---with some earlier indigoes. The soft lavendars are so pretty from this era! And this quilter had enough of the background fabric to use it for the whole quilt.
Patterned check background with a cute star…look at the upper gingham point – frugal-piecing!
I love the floated inner border…very effective!
That lovely lavender plaid!
THIS was my favorite of all!!
1930s…scrappy hexagons separated by tiny diamonds…this was FABO!!
Such a random scrap bag, and the diamonds are VERY small. The diamond rows ar all red, but some of the prints are busy – like the row of red gingham diamonds on the far left…it almost blends in with the rest of the hexagon patchwork….what a super quilt! This one also has heavy batting and is quilted in baptist fans.
Sweet hexes on a bubble gum pink background!
This one also had a huge variety of prints from different decades – 1940s and 195’s mostly, but there are some 1930s in there. I’m just not feeling ambitious enough to adopt tops to finish right now…but this one was ready for quilting!
I LOVE Utility quilts. They were the ones meant to be used and loved until worn to shreds – and if you find them in really bad shape, you know they've done their job and are held close in someone’s memories.
To me these are much more precious than the prize winners that stayed in the cupboard, unused, or only coming out for show.
The utility quilts are full of living and loving and hopes and dreams and the memories of daily life.
There are more photos to show of “other” antique goodies, machines included – but I’m out of space in this post, and I want to get some sewing in before heading down the mountain toward home.
This is the view off the front deck this morning.
The leaves are all gone off of the hard wood trees now ---the sky a brilliant blue, but don’t let that sunshine fool you! It’s briskly cold and windy outside –but I’ll take it! At least I don’t have to shovel it
Have a great Sunday, everyone!
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