For every house is built by someone,

but the builder of all things is God.

Hebrews 3:4






Thursday, August 12, 2010

The Unknown Quilter


I Enjoy having a project to work on at night
when our family is together.  If my hands are not
busy doing something, I feel like I'm wasting
precious time.  I know this is not necessarily true.  

Sometimes it's good to just be still.

Right now, I'm working on hand quilting a quilt I found
in an antique shop two years ago while visiting my 
friend Lisa in Georgia.  

This treasure was hand pieced by someone I don't even know.
I often wonder why this quilt top ended up
on an antique shop.

Where was it stored all these years?

Why was it not finished?

Who are the relatives of this quilter and why 
is this family heirloom not loved and treasured by them?

Who was this unknown quilter?

Based on the fabrics used, I'm guessing the quilt
is from the early 1900's.  It came with backing fabric
that I believe is old muslin.

This is my mini sewing basket.
It carries my pincushion, thimble and
little snips (scissors), ready for quilting anytime.

 I love the pattern of this quilt.
I forgot to take a picture of the hand piecing on the back,
but just seeing the front, you can only imagine the time 
it took to sew each piece without a sewing machine.


With our very hot and humid weather these last
couple weeks, the quilt is resting on a
chair until it cools down a bit.  As soon as
the heat lets up a little, I'll be back quilting.

I think this will be one of our family heirlooms with
part of the story unknown.


Do you like to have an on going project you
can work on here and there?

What are you working on now?


~

Warm Country Blessings,
Christa





9 comments:

Cora said...

Just beautiful....a wonderful find of some beautiful hand work. I'm so glad we are finishing this piece so that it will be treasured for years to come. Oh the stories it could tell of it's previous maker to it's finisher...if only it could talk.

Unknown said...

What a beautiful quilt! I love that is has a history to it. Makes it extra special.

My mom is a quilter, but alas, I am still dumbfounded when it comes to operating a sewing machine but I plan to rectify that come winter. : )

Be well ~Andrea~

Unknown said...

Christa...what a wonderful treasure! Thank you for sharing!

I too am a hands busy person. Winter time I hand quilt and summer, I do smaller projects like hand piecing and embroidery.

Blessings!
Gail

Camille said...

Dearest Christa ~ SUCH a lovely post! I *love* your little sewing basket...soooo sweet with that bow! :)

What an interesting thing to ponder the original crafter of that quilt...whoever did it was obviously talented. What a find for you! I can appreciate why you will work on it when it gets cooler...maybe you should move here...it's rarely too hot for anything! Then we could have that cup of tea. :)

I appreciate your friendship Christa...you encouraged me so much yesterday...THANK YOU!!

With Love,
Camille

Nadine said...

How lovely Christa! My Mom is a quilter and hand quilts all of hers...I did not inherit her skill for quilting!
I do have some embroidery and crocheting projects in my basket that I will pick-up and work on every now and then, when I get the chance! :)

Blessings!
~Nadine

Mrs. JP said...

My mother and grandmother taught me so many things about homemaking and especially sewing and crocheting. Their motto and mine is "busy hands are happy hands." I try to have some hand work or mending at my chair for evenings. I just finished cross-stitching one Christmas ornament and have one more to do as gifts for my grandchildren. My mother started that tradition with our son and he still expects to get ornaments at Christmas from my mom and he's 31!!
Your quilt top is lovely. I can't fathom giving it up but it's good that you have it because you can appreciate how many, many hours went into all those diamonds. Gosh, I've gone on and on. Keep us posted on your progress.

Mountain Home Quilts said...

What a great find! I'm sure it will be tresured in your family. :)

Antoinette Petersen said...

I think the same things when I see such a treasure such as that in an antique store, or even a thrift store! :)

In the hope chest my grandmother is giving me, there are two quilt tops that were never sandwiched together from my great (possibly my great, great) grandmother! I would LOVE to hand quilt them someday!

My mother and I went through some really old photos of my grandmas side of the family all the way back to the 1800's!!!! It is sooo amazing, and we have been reading some of the old journals we found too! :)

Yes, I always try to have a hand embroidery or crocheting project going to keep my hands from being idle and LOVE it!

Blessings,

Miss Antoinette

Lucy said...

A glorious quilt.

-from a passerby