It's so true isn't it, every quilt does indeed tell a story.
I had a lovely, long conversation with Jean today and she told me all about my new old quilt . . .
A long long time ago, in 1994, Jean went to America. She had been invited to be a juror for a Baltimore quilt competition, in Pennsylvania . While in the States she had the good fortune to go to Paducah too and bought three quilt tops.
Once back home in New Zealand again, the three quilt tops ended up spending a few years together, wrapped up in tissue, in a camphor chest.
One day she decided she should try and fix the quilts up, and get them finished. The peach eight point star quilt was not in good condition. The eight point stars had all been made by different people, as practise blocks for young girls learning to hand sew. Someone had collected them all up and pieced them together, maybe to gift as a wedding present.
However, the blocks had been hand stitched together with black embroidery thread and in one complete corner, there were several stars that needed replacing totally.
Jean spent quite a lot of time unpicking the black thread and repairing the damaged stars. The fabrics were a selection from the mid 20's to 40's era, and luckily she had bought a bag of 30's scraps while over in the States. She then hand quilted it . . . and the quilt, almost almost finished, ended up back in the camphor chest again.
Fast forward to the present day, and Jean & hubby decided to move from Auckland up north to Whangarei. She needed to de-stash and so she had a 'suitcase' sale at the local guild meeting, selling her fabrics and quilts. And she also put the peach star quilt, along with the two others up for sale at the recent 'Auckland Festival of Quilts'. Where I stumbled upon it . . .
. . . so happy to be the new owner of this lovely quilt,
I will treasure it.
Thank you Jean for sharing your quiltstory with me.
oh, and I promise never to put it back in the camphor chest. ever. again!
The End
I will treasure it.
Thank you Jean for sharing your quiltstory with me.
oh, and I promise never to put it back in the camphor chest. ever. again!
The End
Linking up with Esther over here at estheraliu
and with Kelly here at myquiltinfatuation
That peach background fabric makes this quilt positively glow! How wonderful that you have the opportunity to see and admire it every single day, it is simply gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteSyi glad you found the story of this quilt, makes it extra special now.
ReplyDeleteit is wonderful - thanks for sharing the story
ReplyDeleteWhat a great story! Such a long time in the making, it makes me feel a bit better about some of my “old” ufo’s!!
ReplyDeleteHow lovely to have been able to talk to Jean and learn about your quilt; knowing the story makes it even more special.
ReplyDeleteFabulous to have the provenance of the quilt in hand and to have gathered it from the previous owner and 'maker' . . . it is a GORGEOUS quilt. I would never tuck it away again either!
ReplyDeleteI’m so glad you two could chat. She was talking to me about the quilt and explaining what it was like while she was in the states, such an amazing life my grandmother has had and I’m so lucky to have her as a quilt mentor :)
ReplyDeleteHi Kathleen, I was so happy to find out a bit more about the quilt. I had such a lovely chat with Jean, she had so much to tell me. I hope I got all the main details written down right! Give her a big hug from me :)
DeleteIt is a lovely quilt and I like the peach background, to me it makes is so 1930's.
ReplyDeleteI was so happy to find out a bit more about the quilt. There aren’t many old-ish quilts up for sale here in NZ yet, not such a vast quilting history! And yes, the peach was a bold 'neutral', and I love it!
Delete'A long long time ago in 1994,' I like that start, and I enjoyed your story. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteShe did put a lot of loving care into fixing up your quilt, that makes it precious.
Thank you for sharing some of the history of this quilt. How wonderful Jean took the time to restore the quilt as best as she could. If only quilts could talk..........
ReplyDeleteWhat a great story behind the quilt. It looks great, and the restoration is perfect.
ReplyDeleteI was so happy to find out a bit more about the quilt, it's beautiful!
DeleteHow wonderful to learn something about the history of your lovely quilt!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great story. So pleased Jean contacted you. I'm sure you will love the quilt even more now, Linda.😊
ReplyDeleteHow lovely to find out the story behind the quilt. That makes it even more special.
ReplyDeletesoooo lovely...I have a peach quilt from the 40's Yours is stunning. a great buy
ReplyDeleteSuch a beautiful quilt and now you know the story that goes with it.
ReplyDeleteHi Kate, Yes, I really enjoyed chatting with Jean and finding out a few more details about the quilt. I’m thinking though, perhaps I need to be more detailed in my quilt labels?
DeleteAnyways, I do feel much so better about my start to finish ratio now, after all the years it took this quilt to be finished :)
Hi Linda, I tried sending you a note to your email address on the google page... it was rejected. Here it is:
ReplyDeleteHi Linda... how wonderful you could relate to my story the way you did, and tell me a bit of your story! What a support you must have been in the healing process of so many.
I'm a recovering social worker, who worked with children for a career. I feel a great kinship with nurses and so many of my friends are nurses as is my niece.
The other day, a migraine overtook me and suddenly as I typed, my vision became blurry and I lost the ability to form words. Very frightening. I am highly sensitive to chemicals and we'd had on the fireplace the night before, which smelled funny. It's a home new to us. Anyway, 5 glasses of water and a walk in clean air helped but it's so scary to be inside and can't communicate. My thinking wasn't cloudy, but I couldn't communicate. It's the reason we moved here, as this was my reaction to pesticides fogged constantly in MD.
So I can kind of relate to people who undergo sudden transformations.
I wanted to tell you how much I appreciated your comment. My stories, from word prompts, are like gifts to me, I read them as I type! I'm glad if others enjoy reading them too! Life is just so interesting isn't it?
LeeAnna
Yes, the peach background fabric is so striking! What a wonderful story, a quilt made by so many different hands over such a long period of time. Will you attach the story to the finished quilt somehow so it doesn't get lost or forgotten?
ReplyDeleteI'm so pleased you were able to find out the history of your quilt Linda - what a colourful past it has had, winging it's way across the seas to finally end up in your very loving hands. It seems like it was 'meant to be' ♥
ReplyDeleteOh how lovely to know the story behind your quilt - a real treasure. xx
ReplyDelete