Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Picking up the pieces, cleaning up the mess....

BUT.....about that youngest grandson(who is sooo much like his Daddy!) the little gal in this picture(his step-mom-to-be)snapped that memorable picture on Saturday...LOL And why did he look soooo disagreeable? Well, that was the 4th or 5th "take".
He has a trick of looking at the camera, and just as you snap the picture, he looks away...so, they take another, and another, etc. He gets pretty tired of it!!! LOL I couldn't resist showing it to you...*VBS* At 4, he has A LOT of opinions!
This is one of the older "used" tops in my collection. I love Bow Tie as a quilt pattern,buying them whenever I come across them(if I can). This was a tied quilt, that seemed unusually heavy to me.. It held up quite well to the wear and tear of the years, and I could have just left it as it was. But I snipped the yarn tied and pulled them out, wanting to 'rescue' the top and hand quilt it. What was inside was a very thin old quilt. Since it was crumbling into shreds, I discarded it, but saved the backing.
The blocks are machine pieced, with many stitches per inch. That makes repairs MUCH harder. I was talking with someone that was replacing(or thinking of) black that was in shreds. In this quilt top, the only fabric that is disintrigating in this one. Not the check bow tie, but the background with the lavender and narrow black stripe. It's the narrow black lines that are turning to dust in my fingers. Soooo, one by one, I've been replacing the background on those blocks. This is a "before" picture, one I haven't done as yet.And this is an "after" picture. I'm lucky enough to have a large, large collection of vintage fabric dating back to the mid 1800's. I don't have alot of shirtings, and if I come across a child's shirt with handmade button holes(this tan background was one of those) I buy it and use it for repairs in old quilts. It'a a slow process to pick out the tiny, tiny treadle stitches, but it can be done. I carefully iron one of the removed pieces, and check it against one of the bow tie segments, before I cut the replacement background. I hand stitch the new backgrounds into place, the same way you'd piece the traditional bow tie block. A careful pressing and it's good as new.
I have about 4 more backgrounds to replace and then I can baste this top with a very light weight batt and hand quilt it. It's a very thin top due to the fabrics that were used. Mostly summer dress or shirt weight cottons. But I love it, and I love the vintage look of it. That means I think it's worth the time to hand quilt it...*VBS*

13 comments:

Susan Tidwell said...

Love this old quilt, the bow ties are classic! I am glad you are taking the time to 'rescue' this one. Looking forward to seeing it in all its new glory!

Paula, the quilter said...

Black is one of the harshest dyes because the metal used in the process, from what I hear. There recently was a discussion about black in quilts disintegrating on a quilt-list I'm on. Spooky how minds think along the same lines.

When I glanced at the photo I saw balls not the bowties. I guess it's the old thing, what do you see, the young maiden or the old hag.

Libby said...

What a wonderful labor of love, Finn. If that top could talk, it would thank you a million times over *s*

Magpie Sue said...

Wow, *that's* a labor of love! It will be a treasure when it's done though :- )

meggie said...

Patience is a virtue I struggle to a attain.

Katie said...

Finn to the rescue whether a child, a struggling quilt blogger, a neighbor, a kitty or a tattered quilt in need. A caregiver for all. So blessed. Both you and all you touch.

Mrs. Goodneedle said...

Worth the time to hand quilt and worth the time to salvage by hand piecing, well done; it's a treasure!

Marilyn Robertson said...

You are turning a quilt that some would throw away into a treasure. It is a wonderful quilt!

loulee said...

I too saw snowballs until you said bowties. Either way, a pretty quilt, well worth saving.

Patch said...

what patience you must have to restore the bow tie quilt - it will be so special once it's complete and i'm sure worth much more than the time and effort you have put into it. Looking firward to seeing the completed quilt.

Susan Tidwell said...

You are sooo nice that I have sent this Nice Matters award to you (and Ebby), so come on over and pick it up here.

McIrish Annie said...

Hi Finn! and a Happy Belated Bday to you!! Love the old bowtie quilt and the new one from Nana's Quilt Day. It looks like the pattern "confetti". How is your Tonyaesque Halloween quilt going???

Accept my apologies for being MIA of late but life is a whirlwind right now...
Hugs to my first blogger friend!!

Cher said...

it is so great that you rescue these quilts and can hand quilt them to make them "good as new"...thanks for showing both before and after photos Finn!