Swooning With the Oldies...

Despite all the quilts and "quilty things" I get up to, there is nothing that makes my heart skip a beat like a vintage quilt. Appreciation for old quilts is what got me started in quilting to begin with. And I had the opportunity to spend quality time with a number of old quilts, and the women who also love them, when I attended the quarterly meeting of the Florida Quilt Study Group. Calendar conflicts had kept me from attending for many months, so it was a real pleasure to rejoin the group.

Take for instance this stunning Ocean Waves quilt, brought by group member Jill. The sheer number of those tiny, tiny triangles fills me with admiration for the long-ago quiltmaker. Just look at all those prints! The amount of blue used in this quilt seemed to really set off the other colors and make them sparkle. And if this Ocean Waves whets your appetite, take a look at The Quilt Index to see more... Ocean Waves with Redwork, with dark background fabrics, in pastels, you name the variation and you'll find an example. The Quilt Index is a quilt documentation resource that provides information and images on quilts housed in museum collections as well as those held privately. Just type in the pattern of interest, and pages upon pages of references and images are yours for the browsing. Warning: you can spend a whole afternoon or more just wandering through the site! But it's so worth your time, and your many questions will get answers.




A quick and admiring glance at a beautiful antique like the vertical strippy (my absolute favorite setting) tied quilt, above, is one thing, but an up-close look truly provides a fascinating glimpse into history. The photo shows the backing folded over and lying on the quilt top. The quilt contains century-old fabrics, including mourning prints, ticking, and even the very early (late 1700s?) piece, shown at right. Well-known quilt appraiser Teddy Pruitt also attended the group, and offered lots of tid bits about these old quilts. That's right... not only is Teddy's profession old quilts, but she spends her recreational time with them, too. Good for her!

Below right is the backing full on (love those pieced backings!), and another photo of the quilt top. The block photo at center shows my nomination of a fabric to be included in a line of reproduction prints. That green with the amorphous blob is a print I'd use again and again. Well, I could go on and on, but you probably want to go spend some time at The Quilt Index and at Teddy's website. So much to see, so little time.