I unearthed this already basted quilt top from a hiding place behind my craft storage. Before my Grandma passed away a few years ago, she gave me a pile of quilt blocks she'd hand pieced and saved. I honestly don't know when she made these, probably during the 80's. She liked to hand piece and mostly liked block construction. She'd sell the blocks at the church Bazaar and then inevitably regret it later... She sold a big pile of hand stitched grandmother's flower garden hexagon blocks and always felt bad about it. She liked hand work, but hated hand quilting just like I do.
When she passed away, I got inspired to arrange the squares in this lightning bolt arrangement. The backing fabric is from the stash of "calicoes" she also gave me. Grandma always called these prints calicoes. Now I guess it's called "quilter's cotton". She kept a stash in her closet. Even when she was unable to leave their apartment, a generous friend who looked in on her and my Grandpa would purchase pretty printed cotton for her from the fabric store.
It's been pin basted for at least 2 years. It's a little bit irritating not to be able to use these great curved quilters pins for other projects, but it's my own fault...I can't decide how to quilt it on my machine. I want it to look lively, and I think I want to emphasize the angles of the red "lightning bolt" sashing... I plan to keep it out for awhile and hopefully I'll get that walking foot loaded onto my machine and get it quilted.
3 comments:
Do it Susie, get it quilted!!! How nice it will be to have a quilt started by your grandma and finished by you.
Wow - how beautiful. I love it. It's touching that you're finishing your grandmother's blocks, I really like the 'lightning bolts' between the blocks.
I think it's so nice that you're finishing up your Grandmother's quilt! If you really get desperate, you might think about sending it out to be quilted...good luck!
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