Treasured Top

whole quilt top

First off a great big, huge, THANK YOU to GiveAwayMommy for such a nice feature article about me in her blog.  You can find her and the article by clicking here.

Talk about tattered.....a couple of holes near one edge

Some time ago, while going through fabrics that my mom gave me, I discovered this tattered, piece of a quilt top.  It's a top that must be quite old as it looks like it's been around forever.


When my older sister, Angie, came for a visit a few weeks later, I showed her the quilt piece.  She instantly said it came from Ma-ma.  Our grandmother on mom's side of the family.  She loved to sew and play with fabric and there's no doubt that Ma-ma made this quilt top.

Close inspection revealed that the top is entirely hand pieced.  That makes me believe that the only way to quilt it is by hand.  So, for 
the next few days, this will be one of my projects.  My husband is having surgery in the morning and I must keep myself busy while sitting with him at the hospital or I'll go crazy.

Can't wait to figure out how old these fabrics are.

That said, I've picked out a book, prepared the quilt top for hand quilting, and found a magazine.  All of those plus the computer and a few low cal snacks will go into my busy bag.

Remember packing a busy bag for your children when getting ready for vacation?  I always included stuff for myself in the busy bag because I'm the one in the family with bad ADD gene.  :-)

some must be feed sacks....they have a very rough texture

I'm OCD enough that I've prioritized my projects.  The most important is quilting the old quilt top.  That doesn't mean that it's the first thing I do, though.  It really only means it's the one I'll feel most guilty about if I don't get some of it done.

I've wanted time to work on this quilt since its discovery.  Now that I'll have to be still and quiet, I figure I'll try to get some of it quilted.  Here are a few more close-ups of the quilt top with pins in it all ready to go.

Isn't it interesting how she put the diamonds together?
Not really always matching.

The top is not big enough to do much with, but I think I can get t table topper from the center section.  The plan is to quilt as much as I can to stabilize the fabrics, then to use the fabrics on the outer edge to repair/replace any pieces that are torn or too fragile.

For the backing I've chosen a piece of light yellow cotton that was in mom's stash.  This way the finished topper will include something from both of the women who influenced my sewing and quilting: Ma-ma and Momma.

Showing part of the backing I've chosen.....
light yellow cotton from my mom.

Alright, now for the question of the day:
Have you discovered an old quilt or part of an old quilt?  What is it's story?  What did you do to preserve it?  Leave a comment for an extra chance to win the fleur de lis applique and click here to go to the original post.  Remember that you must be a follower to be eligible to win.