Wednesday, October 6, 2010

antique applique quilts

I was so excited to have the opportunity to see up close 3 incredible antique applique quilts. We were allowed to take pictures and I only wish I could take better ones.
This first one is a Rose of Sharon quilt but my friend calls it the lobster claw quilt. It is blue, white and red - an interesting color combination for this pattern.
It has a wonderful scalloped border with stems of berries hanging down.
Does anyone else see a fried egg here? :0)

It was densely outline quilted but none of the applique pieces were quilted at all so it had large unquilted areas under the flower, leaves and scallops.
The next quilt I had seen as a black and white line drawing - even from that I knew I would love it but I was SO surprised by all the surprises in this quilt. I'm calling it the Bowls of Cherries quilt. It dates to 1840-1860.
The blocks were set together with piping - I had never seen that before. But it was the quilting that absolutely delighted me. It had so many different motifs. In the bottom corners on either side of the block were quilted maple leafs. This quilt comes from Ontario, Canada so those leaves are perfect!
Clamshell quilting was done in the sashing. It was interesting to see that the baskets were quilted with colored thread - yellow and green. I love the cheddar band.

Here is another one of the shapes used for filler in the border.

I really liked these circles quilted into the scalloped border than ran around 3 sides of the quilt.

The next quilt is a Whetstones and Chips quilt that was said to have come from Scotland. Dating to 1840 - it was a beautifully pieced and appliqued quilt.
It had triple rows of fine quilting with feathered wreaths everywhere.
I just loved the border design.
The yellow flower centers were fussy cut and reverse appliqued so that the flower in the yellow print wasn't visible.
The pieced blocks were circles appliqued onto the background fabric which was 2 lengths of cloth joined down the middle. There were some interesting repairs done to this quilt - if only the quilt could tell it's story...
I rambled a bit with this post - I just wanted to remember all the incredible details about these quilts. I hope you enjoyed them too!
Happy Quilting!!

25 comments:

Linda C said...

How wonderful to be able to see these up close. Just stunning. Thanks for sharing them.

Teresa Rawson said...

I love antique quilts, and these were really unique. Thanks so much for sharing such good pictures.

As Nobel prizes are passed out this week, I can't help but wish someone would invent a gadget that you could point at things...and maybe animals...and you would get a complete history of the object in question. Some of these old quilts have seen a lot of action and history!

In stitches,
Teresa :o)

Larain said...

Wow such a joy to look at, thank you for posting so I look at them so closely. Your photos are just great. You really wonder about the people who made them and what their thoughts were at the time. Did they have an approx age for them?

Ann Champion said...

What gorgeous quilts! I just love red and green quilts. I wonder if the blue used to be green? Some of the old dyes changed color over time. The quilting is fantastic too.
Did they let you see the backs? I always wonder what they look like too. :)

Susan said...

You were so lucky to get to see these amazing quilts up close.
I wonder about the Rose of Sharon quilt. I would be that the "blue" actually used to be green and that the color faded over the years. I have seen some other quilts where that happened. Thanks for sharing!

Barb said...

what an amazing quilt

Quiltbenaco said...

Molto belle queste vecchie trapunte, grazie per le belle immagini, dai modo di poterle vedere bene, anche se da vicino รจ sicuramente meglio.
Ciao
Domenica

antique quilter said...

oh janet you just made my day
these quilts are amazing and well you know how much i Love red and green quilts
thanks soooo much for sharing them with us...
so which one is on the list first to reproduce???
Kathie

Sew Create It - Jane said...

Your pictures are wonderful...thanks for the show and tell..such beautiful quilts. Oh if only they could talk! ;o)

Miriam said...

Beautiful quilts. thank you for sharing.
I really love the last quilt. An amazing design.

Crispy said...

WOW wonderful quilts!! Thanks so much for sharing them. I find the blue in the first quilt really interesting. Not something you would normally see.

Crispy

*karendianne. said...

Oh my! Thanks for sharing these charming, dreamy, "I wish I could make" quilts. They're of such nice quality. Truly dreamy...

Mary Lou Casada said...

The classics always inspire, don't they! I could look at these old quilts for hours -- even it they DO look like lobster claws! LOL Some are elegant; other, quirky -- all original and interesting, what I want my quilts to be! Thanks for sharing!
Blessings,
Mary Lou

Lori said...

I love every single one of them! The motifs in the quilting makes them so unique and special!
Love the super round circles too! LOL I think that is why I'm so intrigued with these types of quilts. They don't need to have every detail perfect for us to love them dearly.

YankeeQuilter said...

Thanks for sharing those photos of the quilts...love the border on the chips-quilt and the quilting on it is amazing!

Jan said...

Really fabulous quilts. I've never seen the piping done like that before either. Enjoyed seeing these!

Barb said...

What incredible quilts!!!
I love the lobster claw, that was a perfect description.
The hand quilting is amazing and lovely to see.
thanks for sharing these amazing quilts, such great inspiration!

Karen said...

I love the quilt with the red scallop border. I have not seen anything like that before.

Stray Stitches (Linda G) said...

Thank you for sharing the antique quilts. Isn't it amazing how well the colors have held up.

Janet said...

I'm glad you told us so much about the quilts, I'm loving the red and greens so much. I love the idea of motifs for quilting and some of those borders are wonderful.

Dixie Howard said...

Wow, what a gorgeous collection of quilts! Thank you so much for the close-ups and descriptions of the quilting. I haven't seen piping used to frame blocks either. I'm thinking that would be quite tricky to do.

Carrie P. said...

What a privilege to see those quilts. They are awesome. The first one does look like lobster claws and I see the egg.
The hand quilting is fabulous too. Thanks for sharing.

Rose Marie said...

Wonderful quilts .... makes a person sigh with delight!

Jan said...

Janet, these are just fabulous! I especially love the first two, with such folky details. Thanks so much for sharing them...I'll be back for mare study!

Marilyn Robertson said...

Thanks for the quilt show! Inspiring!