Monday, November 10, 2014

Random nine-patches

Before I forget again I am showing the first antique quilt our neighbor gave me. Musta been busy when I got it, that I didn't share earlier. We'd done a few favors for him and then he asked what he owed us.  I told him that the quilt keeping the dust off the car in the garage would be enough. Too easy. I am looking forward to helping him out some more. I know he has more antique quilts, but I don't know how many or that I even want them. We did see one keeping dust off some boxes in storage, but it looked like an old cheater that was very faded and thread bare.

I find the arrangement of the patches very interesting. Is it rare that you see the fabric arranged randomly like this? I wonder why she didn't fuss with consistent placement of lights and darks. It would be very difficult for me to do this deliberately. Was she working in the evenings by lamp-oil light? Did two people make the blocks and they weren't in agreement that value placement mattered? Was she in a hurry?  Or was it intentional? Is that why I find it so attractive? I tried to count the number of fabrics. I quit at 52. It's not easy. First I counted all the plaids and strips then each color separately and add 'em up.1 pink, 1 green, 2 reds, 4 blues. Lots of plaids and stripes and blacks and browns.

This was entirely hand-pieced and hand quilted. There is some fading, of course. I wonder if  I would have liked it more then or as it is now.  Some of the blacks and browns are starting to rot and split. The back appears to be a hand-dyed homespun. The back was brought to the front to bind. In one corner on the back is written in marking pen "your grandmother made this". and in blue thread below that is stitched "for dads 9". We can't be sure what that means as there are no names or dates. He has poor family records besides. Glad it is mine now.

 I made 8 more uneven 9patch stars and I am ready to sew them together. Hopefully this week. This is more interesting to look at so I am not showing my stars.

I joined Judy's Linky Pary at PatchworkTimes and Leanne's new Linky Party at SheCanQuilt. Thanks ladies.



7 comments:

Nann said...

The center square-in-square blocks add such a pop to an otherwise utilitarian quilt.

(See you Saturday!)

mamifleur said...

You have an incredible opportunity to have inherited this old quilt!
  When I have time I like to make my own version with fabrics that I have !!!! I love these four nine patch with the red square!
Get all my friendship to my little corner of France

Nicky said...

So glad you rescued this beauty! All those unanswered questions make it more intriguing don't you think?

Thanks for sharing it and linking up to #scraptastictuesday!

audrey said...

What a great quilt! I wonder about these older fabric combinations myself.:)

Flickenstichlerin said...

Oh this is so cute. Love your nine-patch quilt. Beautiful colors mixed so nicely.
Greetings,
Sylvia

Cathy said...

I love this quilt. It is intriguing to look at. It seems to be the kind you could stand back and just absorb.

Leanne said...

It's a beauty and I love that it is more randomly pieced. The little diamonds are a nice touch too. I would be inclined to invite your neighbour to share all the quilts and sit and tell him about what they tell him about his grandmother and mom/aunt who gave them to him.