The Dog Ate My Quilt

Destroyin’ Norman, the Labrador Retriever is one lucky dog. When his owner brought me the product of his labor (1st photo), I wasn’t sure I could put Humpty Dumpty together again. The Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt was over 70 years old and fragile. Now a dog had taken a big bite out of it. How is one supposed to age gracefully with a chunk missing?


The first thing I did was look at it for a day, hoping some magic power would come through my eyeballs and fix it. When that didn’t work, I got busy. One of the half flowers at the border needed replacing as did a 2 foot section of the border itself. The batting, back and binding for the section also had to be replaced (next 3 pictures). Then the new section would have to be hand quilted, matching the stitches of the original quilter (“Good luck with that,” Norman chuckled). Two big challenges were finding fabric that matched the old border fabric, and trying to attach the new section to old fragile material. Finding the fabric was easier than I thought it would be; thank goodness Depression era colors are popular right now. Getting everyone to play together nicely was another matter.

The old border fabric and the background hexagons are very delicate, and fell apart in places when machine sewing was attempted. After more than a few Diva Moments (“This looks like trash, and trash is not allowed to exist in my presence!”), trying the Magic Eyeball trick again, and walking away a couple of times to mutter to myself, everything finally came together and stayed together. I wondered if there was a place I could take the quilt to have all the negative energy removed, but decided a good airing would do just as well.

Norman is out of the dog house for now...

Time For A New Look

At last, renovations have started on my aunt's Flower Garden quilt.  It's a little sad covering up an old flower, but at least it's still part of the quilt.  Now the old flower is protected, and the new flower makes the quilt more stable.

The first picture shows an old flower that has seen better days (see the far left blue flower in the middle).  Good-bye old flower!  The new flower is then basted over the old to hold it in place (picture 2), then hand appliqued to the quilt (picture 3).  Finally, the quilt stitching on the rest of the quilt is repeated in the new flower (picture 4).  My grandmother made some of the tiniest stitches I've seen; it's going to be challenging to match her standard.  Only 11 more flowers to go, and it's finished - I may be writing from the looney bin next time (ha)!

Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt, Part VI

Yay!  The last two flowers are done, and they are as different as night and day.  The flower on the left is a coral beauty made with a modern fabric in a scallop design, and matching solids.  The look isn't too much for the quilt though because of the medium scale print (believe me, I checked!).  The second flower is a typical small scale floral in pretty pinks and greens.  The middle ring has another floral in cream and pink, while the center is a tiny cream-on-cream floral.  Lots of flowery goodness!

Up next, the new flowers will be appliqued over the damaged flowers, providing more stability and less stress to the surrounding fabrics.  Stay tuned!    

Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt, Part V

I've been a busy bee in the flower making department, but kind of slack in the picture taking area.  Four more flowers are done.  Hooray!  There are two more left to do, then the fun really begins - actually restoring the quilt.  I talked to my aunt yesterday, and she kept telling me to "take my time."  That's code for "don't rush and screw up."  Just kidding, Auntie!  Before I get myself into trouble, let me describe the fabrics used.

The flower on the left in the first picture is made with a small yellow floral print accented by solid mint and a white-on-white fern print center.  Like my grandmother, I had to make do with what was on hand for the second flower.  The darker pink floral is a 30s repro, and I thought I had enough scraps to make 12 hexagons, but I think I was just wishing there was enough.  The other pink is also a 30s repro.  Not an exact match, but it gives the flower character.  The other fabrics are solid yellow and a tiny white-on-white floral center.

In the second picture, the flower on the left is also a 30s repro of yellow roses and green leaves.  It's complemented by solid nile green and a dragonfly white-on-white print in the center.  Last but not least, something a little different.  The red and cream hexagons are made with an Art Nouveau style print.  It is highlighted by solid blue and cream-on-cream stars in the middle.  A patriotic flower amid all the flowery ones. 

Flower #11 is in production, so it won't be long until "real" quilt work begins.  Stay tuned!

Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt, Part IV

Six flowers down, which means the half-way mark has been reached! The flower on the left has a pink and green dogwood print with a complementary green inner circle and a pink and green plaid center. Dogwoods are prolific in Kentucky, where my grandmother was from, and in the spring, the mountains are a fairy land of pink and white. The second flower uses a space age inspired print in avocado, along with solid marigold and a center of white on white stars. The flower that's in production now is also green and yellow, but it's light spring green for the inner circle and a bright yellow floral print for the outer circle. Very light and airy!

Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt, Part III

Two more flowers are finished!  After the next two, I'll be half way done.  The flower on the left uses a vintage turquoise and pink floral from the 40s along with a turquoise ombre print and a white on white vine print in the center.  The peach fabric in the other flower is a vintage Wamsutta from the 70s.  The other two fabrics are a mint lawn, and a center made with the same material as the center of the turquoise/pink flower.  The flower I'm working on now is gold and green - the combination is so pretty together!

Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt, Part II

Two flowers are done. Only 10 more to go! I'm using the English paper piecing method to make the flowers. Most of the fabrics I chose for the restored flowers are reproduction prints from the 30s and 40s. One lucky flower though gets to be made with the real deal: a vintage floral print from the 40s. One flower is made with a summer themed print (apples, bees, sunshine) and a solid burgundy, and the other is made with a 30s repro blue and pink floral and a pink solid.

Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt, Part I

This is a picture of my grandmother, Lillian Fields Patton, in 1943. She was one of the many women who inspired and nurtured my love of quilting. Long before I was a twinkle in my daddy’s eye, Grandmother made Flower Garden quilts for all her children when they were freshly married. Each hexagon was hand cut, and no two flowers were the same. She used up every piece of scrap fabric she could find, and some of the neighbors’ too. Grandmother even made flowers from my grandpa’s old boxer shorts (3rd picture)!

Six months ago, my aunt, a Super Master Of The Quilting Universe herself, sent me her quilt, asking me to restore it. ACK! What an honor to refurbish something my grandmother made! Not to mention nerve wracking, anxiety producing, heart pounding, pressure filled... OK, I’ll stop. While I was marking the flowers that needed to be fixed, I noticed the binding needed a little TLC too. However, Grandmother bound each side of the outer hexagons with its own separate miter. Can you imagine hand sewing the binding to the quilt 1" at a time, then mitering 1” pieces of fabric together? My mind reeled. Before I fainted completely away, I asked my aunt if she wanted me to replace the binding too. Luckily for my heart, she said no because it would be too hard to match the fabric. What’s left of my sanity thanked her.


The other two pictures are of the quilt itself. It’s too big to take in one shot, so I just took a couple of close-ups to show the diversity of colors and fabrics used. I’ll be posting updates as I go along, or maybe pix of me in the loony bin. Stay tuned!