Well, I DID say it was past hope . . . Absolutely rotten at the sides and nothing much savable at all except I shall try and use part of the quilting patterns on something.
Bits of infill quilting on the previously-purple material.
One of the Elder leaf patterns - as you can see, some of the stitches have already disappeared.
You can just about see a large 4-petalled motif. I think it is closely related to the four-leaf motif in the bottom quilt piece.
OK - this is shabby and has seen better days with its patches of wear, but I love the scalloped border (even the puce flounce!) and it has beautiful quilting and patterns. The flounce borders generally date from the 1920s and 30s, and I think this may well have been a wedding quilt from that date.
The central motif in slightly more focus. Note the hearts in the corners of the central block.
Part of the edge quilting, as shown from the reverse of the quilt (which is actually a slightly bronzey colour, but different in the shade).
Detail of how the corner was worked, and you can just see the heart and scrolls and flowers in the central square block.
This is a detail from half an old quilt which was wrapped around a piece of furniture we bought from auction. The filling on it is lambs wool and its lovely and light.
Detail of one of the joined-leaves quilting motif and showing the basic cable border.
The central medallion - you can just make out the design and surround. As you can see, it had a lot of wear over the years . . .
I will try and photograph the red Paisley quilt tomorrow, but I don't think that the quilting pattern will show up very well.
I can well imagine the HOURS [maybe years] of the quilter's life that went into these inticately stitched motifs. Obviously the quilts were viewed as utilitarian in spite of the detailed workmanship. I hope you'll think of ways to display at least bits of the most battered ones--stitches for posterity!
ReplyDeleteThey're absolutely beautiful. I love that scalloped edge too.
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