Thursday, July 5, 2018

Condition Not Important (well, maybe a little ...)

I have been on the lookout for a new quilt for my collection.  I had a birthday last month, and what could be nicer than a fresh quilt to research? I started looking online about six weeks before my birthday but could not find anything that was both interesting and within budget.  I had just about given up; but with only two days to go I found a candidate. Now, I always say that condition doesn't matter because I like to reproduce a quilt rather than restore it; but I was wondering if this one was too worn out even for me.

The quilt arrived earlier this week.  The seller's description was accurate.  It is a sad orphan.




There is no batting, just top and back.  It isn't quilted, it has been tied with thick yarn which explains all the dots in the photo.  Some fabric is faded to white (bottom right had corner), some pieces are unstitched (Grandmother's fan with black, bottom row) and some material has vanished.







Here's an example.  What was it? I started with BlockBase and after some detective work I found a name - it's Corn and Beans.  There are traces of a pretty yellow print, and the fugitive green is completed bleached.









This block is in better condition but I couldn't find it in Blockbase.





I had a look in 101 Patchwork Patterns by Ruby McKim and found it straight away.






I kept looking in 101 Patchwork Patterns and found all twenty-four blocks.  I thought it would take a fair bit longer to name them all but it was nice to identify each neglected block.

The maker must have used the 101 Patchwork Patterns to choose her blocks.

                        ... or ...

                                    ... is there more to this story? ...

                                                                         ... don't miss the next installment ...

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