Return to 1901-1925
When this quilt was brought to me, it was a found stack of blocks. Rhonda's great-grandmother had hand pieced them around 1930 with scraps in her basket dating back to the turn of the century. They were passed from mother to daughter. Then, when Rhonda's mother was ill, she gave the blocks to Rhonda, who contacted me to finally assemble the quilt and finish it as it would if it had been finished by the quiltmaker, herself.
There were an odd number of blocks and a few of them were made much earlier; about 1875-1900. It is probable that these older blocks were made by a different person and used by Rhonda's grandmother as a pattern, creating enough to make a whole quilt.
So the first issue was how to lay out the quilt. I found a picture of a quilt made in the early 1900s that was set on point in rows. I decided to use this setting and have a few blocks left over. I pulled the "older" blocks as they were noticably different due to the fabrics used. Rhonda has those older blocks as an additional keepsake.
The first step in my process was to determine the size of the blocks. Since they were all slightly different, I decided to trim them all to the size of the smallest block.
The next issue was to find fabric that was respective of the time period that the blocks were created. After searching high and low for that pink, with no luck, I purchased a barn red Christmas fabric from Moda. I used rit dye remover to remove the dark red. Then, after some experimentation with different colored dyes, I redyed it back to the color and shade I was trying to achieve. Just a note of "lessons learned"..I did not know enough about the dyeing process to set the dye. In the future, this step must be performed. The color has stayed fast, but if it gets wet, it forms a water spot.
I was lucky enough to find a contemporary fabric that was a "real" indigo blue that was printed with a resist, leaving the white design. This is the same process used in dyeing indigo fabrics at the turn of the century. This is what I used for the vertical sashings and the binding.
I hand pieced the top together, hand basted the quilt "sandwich" and hand quilted the entire quilt in a "Baptist fan" design without marking the quilt. The fabric used for the backing is natural muslin.
Six months and 1000 hours later, the quilting was done. I hand applied a 1/4 inch binding.
I hand inked a label and appliqued it on three sides to the back, leaving a pocket where Rhonda can store items associated with the quilt. It was displayed at the 2007 Maple Leaf Festival Quilt Show in Baldwin City, Kansas.
Rhonda has had the quilt appraised by an AQS certified appraiser and is happy with the appraisal. The appraiser commented on the quality of workmanship and appropriateness of both the fabric choices and quilting to the time period of the blocks.
