Vintage Grandmother's Garden

She sat quietly for many decades. She was tenderly put together, hexagon by hexagon - all by hand. They're 1" hexagons, btw. She was passed from family member to family member, made by an anonymous quilter, but I recognized her glory and rescued her from the Free Table at my local quilt meeting. Free? Really?

Vintage quilt top: 65" x 76"

The bottom was unfinished and I needed to square it up. I put Kona Snow under those wobbly edges and appliquéd the hanging hexagons onto it to straighten the edges. I straightened the hexagon side by slicing them - yes I did! I had plans and the quilt was SO excited to know it was going to be finished and loved.

After quilting and before binding

Go ahead - compare those two photos. They're upside down, but you get the point.

Now let's look at the gorgeous quilting done by a master longarm quilter, Ada Gosser of 2 Tubs Quilting. She was so delighted to get to work with this quilt top. She knew what pattern to use, but also gave me a choice to make sure it was what I wanted, too.

Grandmother's Flower Garden quilted and bound

The photo doesn't do it justice, but believe me, it's truly gorgeous!! And done, btw.

Let's look at the back where you can see Ada's master work with her machine. Sure, it's an all over pattern - but that's what the quilt needed.

GFG from the back

How about some blocks up close?

One of the triple round GFG blocks

And another one:

The maker sure did like that peach color, didn't she?

Now, why did I decide to get this quilted? Big sigh! My oldest daughter wanted me to make her a pair of long culottes from a vintage quilt. BUT, when she saw the finished quilt (without binding), she changed her mind! Hallelujah! Ada and I and several of my quilting buddies who saw this quilt were hoping that would be her response.

I took it up to her house on Friday. She saw it and changed her mind. I took it home (singing all the way, along with this sweet quilt) and put binding on it Saturday morning. Audrey took it home where it will live folded up at the bottom of her bed. A perfect nap quilt.

I thought about what should go on the label. Here it is:

Label on Audrey's quilt

That sweet quilt is now finished. She is happy and I'm sure her maker, if she could hear the rest of the story, would be shedding tears of joy, too!

I have plans to get two other vintage quilt tops from the 1930s finished like this. They are SO tired of sitting in the dark, lonely closet. They are begging to be loved and enjoyed and treasured. In fact, Audrey said she would give them a loving home (she loves all my vintage quilts).

I'll keep you posted on how this goes. And many thanks to Ada for helping me finish this beauty!