October 12, 2009

My Festival Entry - Fall 2009

I think I may have been holding out on my regular readers! I've had this quilt tucked away in a closet for 3 years I think. It's not something I want to use, it's an antique, and it is mine.
Antique String Quilt
My Great-Grandmother made this quilt. I met her once or twice. I don't have memories of her - but I have this quilt.
Antique String Quilt
Each set of blocks is made with the same tie as the center, some of them have been pieced a bit to make it large enough to go across the center.
Antique String Quilt
Where they meet in the center is a black velvet appliqued circle. There's no batting, that I can tell of, it seems to just have the backing, which is a burgundy velvet. It is wrapped from the back to the front and expertly hand stitched in place. There's more pictures in my flickr if you want to see more of the ties.

I'm quite certain there is more to this quilt's story - like where did all those ties come from! Did they all belong to my great grandfather? But for right now that is all I have! I am very happy that it is mine and I'm going to dig a bit more and see what info I can find.

Enjoy the show!
Amy

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77 comments:

blushing rose said...

Lucky you! This is gorgeous. Never seen one done this way.

Have a crisp warm autumn day. TTFN ~Marydon

Jessica said...

What a beautiful quilt!!! Quilts like that are my absolute favorite--so steeped in history and love!

Lee D said...

At first I thought it was a string quilt, but to learn it is all ties is incredible. I love string quilts. i have a number of my grandmother's quilts and love them. you can see them on my blog www.lalaslovelys.blogspot.com, side bar Genevieve's work. I am in the process of making a string quilt too.

SaraVictorious said...

Woohoo! I've been wondering when you'd post to your own festival! What a fun quilt! And so nice that you have something from your great grandmother! Isn't it amazing how style and taste changes so much from generation to generation?

dhblack said...

Thanks so much for sharing your quilt with us! I think the ones from our grandmothers are the most special! I hope my grand-kids some day feel the same! This has been so much fun! Thanks again for organizing this wonderful event!
Donette Black, Neola Utah

allsewnup said...

WOW Amy!! It's a wonderful piece of history. Those gals are great.

:o)
Carolyn

Marie said...

We were all waiting for you to post. It is so beautiful and i loved the velvet circles. Congrats and THANKS FOR EVERYTHING

Jan said...

This is wonderful. Such a treasure.

Natalia from Piece N Quilt said...

Yes! You have been holding out! I totally got chills when I read this! This is a great reminder to me that I should be putting labels on all of my quilts! Thanks so much for sharing!

Melissa {polkadot chair} said...

ohhhh.... LOVE IT.. that reminds me I have one that my Grandma and all her sisters made for me when I got married... Its a beautiful giant star quilt.. next time you do this I'll pull it out and photo graph it for this.. the fabric choices look really similar to this one.

Marilyn Polak said...

How nice to have something made by your great grandmother! A treasure! Love the fabric in the center--whimsical!

taylorsoutback said...

What a wonderful quilt, Amy! A quilt appraiser would love to get their hands on it and give you a time frame if you are not sure when it was made. Judging by the design and coloration of the ties - perhaps late '40's - early '50's? Just a guess. Maybe your Great Grandmother used a thin muslin foundation? Hope you have lots of acid free tissue for storing it in when not displayed. Thanks so much for sharing.

Rebekah said...

gorgeous! What a wonderful family heirloom!

Sherri said...

What a great quilt! A treasure...even if you don't have the story at least you do have the quilt!

taylorsoutback said...

Hi Amy -back again for a quick note...looking more closely at the one area of ties with the ladies wearing 1920's type clothing - the quiltmaker's time frame may be earlier...though a quilt is dated according to the most recent fabric used. Good luck in your research. This is so fascinating!YOu will have to keep us posted.

marlene@ByTheSeam said...

I just love all the old ties. It sure made a nice quilt. I could spend hours looking at all the different ties in there. What a treasure to have.

Thimbleanna said...

Wow Amy -- what a treasure! It's fun to see a quilt made from ties too -- you don't see those very often and yours is beautiful!

paulette said...

What a beautiful quilt and I bet each scrap of fabric has a story of it's own! Thanks for sharing and thanks again for hosting this awesome quilt festival!! Well done!
Paulette

Sara said...

This is awesome! I have been wanting to do something with some old ties and this is perfect! Thank you for sharing.

Cathi said...

What an incredible quilt!! It looks like it's in great shape -- what an heirloom!

sallgood said...

Love this- especially because we gave my father-in-law a tie quilt for his 80th birthday this summer! I've blogged about it here: http://makeitawonderfullife.blogspot.com/search/label/%22tie%20quilt%22
We used his ties from his collection. It's great to see your wonderful quilt, and it reminds me AGAIN of the importance of the story and a label!

bellsjo said...

what a fantastic piece of history!

Jackie Russell said...

Lucky you! I have seen a lot of string quilts but never seen one with ties. Very cool!

Anita in Florida said...

What a lucky gal you are...such a wonderful find to have from your great grandmother. Those ties are incredible. If the backing is velvet that is probably why there is no batting...it would be too heavy. Lots of luck on the hunt for more info.

Allie said...

Oh. My. Word. That is breath-taking - I can't imagine all the work that went into that. It's wonderful!

Jane said...

Amy, you have a very special quilt there. One from your family rates high with quilters. It is lovely!

Tambo said...

I love it! I like the tie with the girls as well. What a great treasure to have! Good luck finding out the story that goes with it!

Kaye Prince said...

Very awesome Amy! I wish that someone in my family had quilted so that I could have had something like this passed down (oh well, I guess that's what I'm doing now though)! Thank you so much for hosting the Festival, it's been a lot of fun to see everyones quilts and receive so many comments on mine.

SewCalGal said...

What a treasure. I'm glad you pulled it out of your closet to share with us. Lovely.

SewCalGal
www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com

Letterpress said...

I've been following your blog for a while and was wondering which one of your quilts you were going to show us for "the quilt." So what a surprise to see this fabulous old quilt (although it looks new) for your entry. I think that many of your commentors already have touched on what we all feel: how terrific it is to have something with a little more history behind it than what we create at our machines.

I think it's this shared history--this connecting of generations of quilters--that I find so fascinating about this Festival. That and the shared love of quilting scattered through many nations (I've discovered quite a few international quilters here) has really made this an interesting few days at the computer.

Your quilt is lovely, and with an intriguing (not yet totally discovered) past. Thanks!

--ELIZABETH E, #115

Lucy said...

oh wow. absolutely lovely. oooo and lots of velvet.
by the way, thanks so much for organising the quilt festival - it has been one if the highlights of my week!
:-) lucy

amy smart said...

This quilt is amazing! What a treasure. I think that strip quilts are my favorite and to have the family heritage makes it even better!!

Zonnah said...

It does not even look old. I had to reread your sentence just to make sure I read it right :)

Allie said...

That is so cool! What a great quit with a great story!

Rosalyn Manesse said...

A wonderful heirloom!

Anne at Film and Thread said...

That was definitely worth the wait! I didn't realize it was ties at first.

Cheryl Arkison said...

Lovely. No wonder you keep it hidden. I would be afraid of damage and fading. But that must be torture to not look at it frequently?

Quilts on Bastings said...

What a beautiful quilt - how special to have such a wonderful quilt as a memory of your Great Grandmother.

Judy said...

My entry is from my great grandmother too! Yours looks like it could fit a king size bed. Very cool !!!

Red Pepper Quilts - Rita Hodge said...

What a great way to connect with your grandmother! It is a fabulous quilt, thank you for sharing.

Rita

Catherine said...

Such a beautiful quilt but made even more special that it was made by your Grandmother. Thanks for sharing this with us.

Kathy said...

Oh, this quilt is such a beauty. I love how all the ties were arranged. Your great grandma was a good seamstress. And you are lucky to be the current owner of this wonderful family treasure.

Mary on Lake Pulaski said...

What an interesting quilt Amy! Wouldn't it be great to have all the history on it? I guess like a quilt appraiser told me, at least label it with what you DO KNOW now, so at least that is documented.

Anonymous said...

This quilt is really special, - I was surprised to read it was so old and the colours still being so crisp. How lucky you are to have such an heirloom :-)

Angela Nash said...

Definately a treasure!

Victoria said...

What a magnificent heirloom! I love it... every single bit, and to think it was made by your own Great Grandmother! It looks brand new with it's brightness and very modern! Oh, if only it could talk... the stories it could tell!

Terriaw said...

Oh Amy, you have been holding out on us! This quilt is so amazing! I really love string-pieced blocks. I love the rich colors of this, and the story behind it is priceless. What a wonderful family treasure to have!

Carol said...

Beautiful piece of quilt history.

Jocelyn said...

What a very awesome quilt. And what a wonderful family heritage to own and one day pass down to your children.

Cynthia said...

This is an amazing quilt. Family heirlooms are so wonderful.

Cindy said...

What a wonderful piece of your family history - hope you have good luck discovering more about this quilt. I had a quilt that my grandmother made, but it was loved into pieces, literally. My mom sews, but has never quilted. I hope to be the one in my family that creates heirlooms to be passed down. Thanks so much for sharing, and for organizing this quilt festival - it is so inspiring to see the different quilts and read the stories.

Anonymous said...

Lovely! How fortunate to have such a beautiful family heirloom. Thank you for the wonderful Quilt Festival! I just love visiting all the blogs.

Leslie said...

you are so lucky to have such a great family treasure

Robin said...

Oh, Amy! What an amazing treasure! The quilt is gorgeous. Thanks so much for sharing!

AnnieO said...

Who knew string quilts were all the rage so many decades ago? This is a beauty and you are a lucky great granddaughter! Thanks for sharing your quilt's story.

Anonymous said...

Wow--that's different! So bright and cheerful! What a clever idea, and how wonderful to have something made by your great grandmother.

Vicki

A Colorful World said...

I have a bunch of ties to make a quilt from! Love this pattern!

Bed Linens said...

This is gorgeous. I love the pattern

Lis Harwood said...

What a fantastic quilt to have - and I wondered when you were going to join your own festival which the rest of us are enjoying enormously.

Anonymous said...

Such an amazing quilt! Love those fabrics....pure treasure!!!

Jean said...

Very pretty and so nice to have something she made.
Thanks so much for holding the quilt festival..it has been fun to see all the quilts...though I haven't gotten much posting done since it started. lol

Nat Palaskas said...

This is beautiful Amy. I used ties before but only to make skirt out of them, but quilts yes, that is the thought. I agree blogging world is a one world, world of enjoyment, friendship, sharing and express creativities. Thanks to you I have step up a little with blogging expereience since spring festival. I still keep in touch with friends I made then and hope to meet more from this one - Hugs Natima

Michelle said...

Amy, this is really neat. I have a bag of my Dad's ties, and I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with them, it has been 7 years he's gone, but I think I will make a quilt, although I'll probably cry the whole time I make it. Thank you for sharing this inspirational quilt.

Marit said...

Amy, what a lovely heirloom quilt!!! Love it, so fun and fresh and vibrant. Thank you for sharing! And thank you for being such a wonderful hostess, again ; )

jacquie said...

saw this in your flickrstream...glad to see it again. a treasure for sure.

Unknown said...

You lucky girl you! Your antique quilt looks to be in good condition! What beautiful ties and I love the idea! Great quilt! Thanks for sharing...
lover of grandmom's quilts and the stories that go with them....hugz, Pam

Anonymous said...

You are very lucky to be the owner of this treasure. Thanks for the closeups. That fabric is wonderful. don't I wish I owned some.

Thanks so much for hosting this online quilt festival again. I've had lots of new people visiting my blog. It's a great way to make friends around the world.

Carrie P. said...

What a fantastic quilt. Something to treasure and pass down one day.

Amanda Jean said...

what an amazing quilt! thanks again for starting this whole quilt festival. there is so much goodness to see! i'm sure it will take me months to get through all the quilts, but how fun it will be! thanks for all the trouble you are going through to make it happen. :)

Busy Little Quilter said...

I have the last quilt my grandmother ever made. Then I have several quilts that my husband's grandmother made.
Both of them were the reason I started quilting, but it was years later (after they passed away) that I learned how.

Your quilt is beautiful. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Zlaty said...

What a precious quilt! An antique from your grama! I first though you made it! I can see the bold colors!

Happy sewing and Thank you for having us at the Quilt festival!

Zlaty in pA

Chase said...

This is a great story. I love the quilt. Such an antique from the family and is being remember.

Happy Friday, Cheers~

audreypawdrey said...

That is gorgeous Amy! What a wonderful treasure to be passed on to you that is!

duckyhouse said...

what a beautiful quilt. you are so fortunate to have it in your collection.

Rene' said...

What a special quilt!!! I love the velvet button and I'll bet the back is beautiful too. Thanks for sharing.

quiltmom anna said...

Amy,
This was another great show- I am working my way through some more of the quilts in the show- there are some real beauties with some wonderful stories that go with them. I wanted to thank you for arranging the show - it is a terrific experience with all who decided to post an entry. I like that it has such a great cross section of quilters- new quilters and seasoned ones can share their work and stories and be valued not judged.

I really enjoyed your quilt- it is such a special quilt to for you to own. Antique quilts were made with the most interesting fabrics- those ties would be something else to look at.
Thanks for sharing.
Regards,
Anna

Anonymous said...

Such an AMAZING legacy, heritage and inheritance!!! Treasure your treasure!!! And, thanks for sharing your prized possession. It's an inspiration. : )

Thanks for hosting and organizing this entire Show!!! I know I'm behind, but better late than never. ; )

Happy Holidays to you and yours! Peace. And, piece!