Friday, August 31, 2012

FINDERS KEEPERS

Years ago, I was given a bag of hand-me-downs for my boys. At the bottom of the bag, was this little embroidered quilt. When I asked my friend where it came from. She said "Oh that was my husbands when he was a baby".     What?
She no longer wanted it hanging around, so I gladly accepted. It was too sweet to pass up.

Look at these little jiggers :




The problem is, the quilt is tied, and all the batting is in a lump in one corner.  I really want to restore this, but am not sure how. I'm thinking Heather of Vintage Grey would know just what to do.

When the line "sew stitchy" comes in, I am hoping it might work with this. My thought is new narrower sashing. It's currently about 3 " and that leaves a lot of open space between blocks.


Any ideas?

Have a great long week-end.
One of my boys is moving, so you know what I'll be doing  : )

21 comments:

giddy99 said...

What an awesome find! I'm amazed at what some people will throw out. I'm glad you have rescued it!

Live a Colorful Life said...

You will turn this into something special and spectacular!

vintage grey said...

Oh, is this not the sweetest!! The animals are so precious and the embroidery is beautiful! Such a treasure! I like your idea, and even some sweet 30's children repro prints would look great, too! Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend! xo Heather

Benta AtSLIKstitches said...

Can you cut the back off, snip the ties, remove the wadding (batting?) then either treat the remainder as a new flimsy, or fussy cut the embroidered sections and start again, maybe with retro fabrics as sashing?

Nat at Made in Home said...

That's a great gift! Can you cut out the embroidery and start again, with maybe some neutral but patterned fabric?

Ruth K said...

I would indeed "unsew it", "untied" and do some narrower sashing. 30 repros sound good but I think I would go with just a polka dot retro color like turquoise or green, pink any of the colors on the embridery, just saying... Goodluck!

Cheryl's Teapots2Quilting said...

My son has an embroidered quilt from his great grandmother. She sashed between each block, then added a border and stitched in the ditch. It has held up well for the past 22 years now. Have fun with that.

Deborah said...

This is so adorable. I am glad it is in good hands!!

Cindy Sharp said...

Can't wait to see what you do. It will be adorable.

Sarah said...

Lots of good suggestions. I think I would untie it first and then cut just inside seam lines so you don't have to unsew them. trim down the sashing or add a brighter color and sew it back together. Can't wait to see what you do with it!

Kelli Fannin Quilts said...

That is so cute! :) Have fun restoring it.. can't wait to see how it turns out. I have a similar embroidered block quilt that was in the family, as an unfinished top, and my mom finished it when my son was born. It's so special to me. xo

Nancy said...

I agree with the others who have suggested cutting the blocks apart just inside the seamline, then sewing new sashing. It would be fun to see sashing colors that go with the flowers in the blocks.

I do believe your friend has no sense of family history, poor lady.

I hope you'll tell us what you decide to do, Carla, and then show us the finished quilt.

Claire said...

Oh it is just gorgeous - all that work someone put into it only to have it given away. If my kids do that with their quilts...anyway, I think you should unpick it and if you can preserve the top as is then just requilt it. If you can't then save as much from each embroidery block and sash around then with something that blends with the embroidery but doesn't over power it. Some hand quilting around the embroidery might work and I'd go fairly plain with the rest of the quilting. Good luck with it Carla, can't wait to see what you come up with.

Shontelle said...

Gorgeous embroideries! You should check out some of Cindy Needham's stuff. She does amazing things with vintage linens. http://blog.cindyneedham.com/ and http://www.cindyneedham.com/

Marie said...

How wonderful that you found this, what a treasure! I like the idea of re-sashing it in 30's prints, they would enhance the embroidered flowers, I'm anxious to see the finsihed quilt,you'll do a lovely job, I know!

Peggy said...

What a treasure! And so cute! I have a quilt my mom made for us, now nearly 40 years old so getting to be vintage, that has quilting and tying starting to come out, and batting bunching too. But otherwise intact. It's the kind of batting that was used back in the 70s. I plan to pick it all out, take it completely apart, then re-quilt with new backing and batting. Have fun remaking yours.

Megan said...

I'm going to go with most everyone else, that un-quilting and un-piecing it and re-piecing it with more prints might make it even more awesome! Have you thought about the new chez moi line - Coquette? It's such a great find! I know you'll do something amazing with it!

Janine @ Rainbow Hare said...

This is so sweet. I look forward to seeing what you do with it :)

quiltmania said...

This looks like so much fun. It will be adorable when you finish it!

QuiltinGram said...

You should be able to carefully cut the ties which will seperate it from the backing. Depending if it has binding or was enveloped right sides together then flipped. Pick out the outer seams and you should be good to resandwich it.
The embroidery is adorable and worth saving.
CathyC in Alberta
cathyc1950(at)gmail(dot)com

Heidi Grohs said...

Losers, weepers!