A quilt's story from its beginning in the 1960's to its completion in 2017

When we moved into our home, we were faced with the challenge of cleaning out the rest of the house that didn't get finished before we bought the home.  My grandma's sewing room was one of those rooms.  Not only was it full of all her many years of fabric, house decor and general storage, the room had been built with 2 foot wall to wall, ceiling to floor cabinets.  They were perfect for a older couple that didn't have a need for a 3rd bedroom.  However, we were moving in with two young children and needed that room as a bedroom with a closet.  I wish beyond all wishes that I had had the time to back up the photos we took those 6 weeks on our computer, but we didn't.  It was a hard time of life.  I had an emergency c-section 2 weeks before we closed on the house and only had enough money to live in our rental for one more month before paying our mortgage payment.  So, we remodeled the house, moved everything out of the house that was left from my grandparents passing, worked full-time between all our jobs and moved in the day before Christmas Eve.  It was insane.  But when our computer crashed it was a very very sad day full of heartbreak.  We lost all my newborn sons pictures and the before and after pictures of all the work we had put into our home.  Oh well.  Time has slowly healed that heartbreak.

But, back to the post at hand.  When I was cleaning out the cupboards, I found a stack of handsewn quilt blocks. Each of the blocks were like little English paperpiecing hexes, but they were not sewn onto a card that popped out.  They were cut out in the shape of a hexagon and then hand sewn together. 

(The cardboard hexagon she used was slightly out of shape.  Yikes.)

The hand-stitching on the center of one of the flowers.

It was an insane amount of work and something like 80 blocks worth!!!  After consulting with my aunt, we believe that they were started by my great-grandma and that my grandma continued to work on them.  (I am really frustrated because I can't find the picture I took of all the blocks when I found them.)

I still have a bag of 20 unfinished blocks and varying pieces.  Some of the stacks that were cut out and meant to go together are still pinned together with a rusted pin.

Oh how I love the colors and pattern on this unfinished strip.  Someday maybe I will stitch up one more flower just so I can make something with this fabric strip.

So I laid out the blocks and tried to decide if I could square them off to sew them together.  Unfortunately, I just couldn't find a way to do it.  Because the hexagon wasn't square and when I ironed them they were all so different in their seam allowances, they were just so difficult to square off.  So, I put the blocks into my fabric stash and there they stayed for the next 3 years.

One day during my #faricdestash in 2016, I pulled the blocks out to revisit them.  I was thinking the best way to use them would be to iron/applique them onto a white block.  Which is what I did.  I used so many yards of my favorite plain white fabric from Collecting Threads.  But then I had a stack of 60 finished blocks on my hand.  They weren't the kind of blocks that I would use on a bed for myself but I wasn't sure what to do with them.  So, into the unfinished stack they went yet again. 

Fall of 2015, my aunt asked me to make her a set of table runners, one for each month to put on her couch table.  I was thinking, what better thing could I make her than a table runner that incorporated the blocks from her own mom.  So I pulled out all the more orange ones, because it is her favorite color, and use three blocks to make a table runner.  I don't have a picture of the one I made her, but I loved how it turned out so I made myself two to put on my piano and my bookshelf.  The red border is a replica fabric I found at my local quilt shop. 

I definitely went through a phase in 2015-16 with quilts bound in solid white.  I love how clean it looks and how it makes the colors that are in the quilt/table runner itself really pop.

It was then that I finally decided what to do with the rest of the blocks.  I spent 3 weeks going to various quilt stores and searching online until I found the perfect purple print to compliment the various prints in the original quilt.  I sashed all the blocks together and got it machine quilted in one afternoon.  It is one of the first quilts that I have ever made that I finished the top, got it quilted and bound and hung up on the day I made it.  I love it so much.  I took close ups at the time of my absolute favorite prints on the quilt.

When I finished I still had blocks left over.  So I made a couple pillow covers.  One day in the next two weeks I will head over to my aunts and add a post with all her pillow covers and her table runners I have made, but here is the fall one I made for myself. 

Seriously, I LOVE the print on the outer fabric of this flower. 💚💚

There is something so incredibly special working with an unfinished project that was made with time and love.  It was worth every second I spent on this quilt.  I cherish it each time I am organizing my quilts and I get to hold it and examine it.  I love spring when I pull it out and see it hanging on my wall.  I wish I could have consulted with her about what her original plan was with the quilt, but at least it isn't stuck in a cupboard never to be seen again.

Hope you enjoyed.