Friday, July 03, 2015

Mom's Grandmother's Flower Garden (GFG) quilt, repaired

( I have shown this quilt previously, but wanted to document the end result, with repairs made.)

This is the back of my Mom's GFG quilt, that sat on a wood shelf for toooo long, being "saved for good".  Upon inspection, the acids had eaten clear thru - front to back, a person could see daylight thru the damage. 

Mom made it in 1936-37, as a young woman of 21, awaiting her first child, Kristin, when my parents lived in Chicago.  We think the lively prints came from garments that her SIL made, Kate, for her little girls.  

I had it for about 10 years before tackling the repair job, thinking it was "too hard." It lingered for about 10 years, but one day in 2014, I jumped in and DID it!  And I heard my Mother saying, "It's never has hard as you think it is!" 

This is the back - it's not perfect, just repaired.  The fold line was extremely weak or damaged, so I added an entire backing and batting across the quilt.  I quilted thru all the damaged area to hold the backing on, and more quilting thru the new rosettes I had replaced on the front.  I did not want to remove old parts, nor remove Mom's hand quilting.  Yes, it's a little lumpy - that's OK, I'm also little lumpy, yet still useful. 

No more holes.  I replaced parts starting in each center, all the way out to the  blue "path" , in some places, one hexagon at a time, as necessary, for 5 rosettes and a few more little places.  


(Above)  Isn't it beautiful? I think I see a new rosette --  right middle, yellow center, then light green with light reddish print.  Hard to tell, right? I appliqued right over the old parts.  NO ONE will ever notice the repairs, except a skilled  quilter or seamstress. 

(Below) New rosette on the left, with yellow print around the light green.

(Above)  Easier to find the new one.  Black print around pink, then another at lower right, a green print around a yellow print.

Later during repairs, I noticed that Mom had solid fabric around the yellow center, then a print.  That's OK.  It's done. 

I added a new binding, washed it twice on gentle with my "homemade laundry soap."  

Mom would be happy. 

10 comments:

  1. Great job!! I loved what you said...no job is even as hard as you think it might be!!Happy Fourth!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Elaine, what a labor of love! Good for you. My mom didn't quilt much, and used such cheap fabric that nothing remains of her work, mostly whole cloth with thick batting and hand quilting, using double-knits that tended to get 'runs' like nylon stockings. But they kept us warm for as long as they lasted. You are blessed to have this quilt, and to take this care to keep it for a while longer!

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a treasure ready for another generation. You're to be commended. Thanks or sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Beautiful -- congratulations on the finish!

    ReplyDelete
  5. A wonderful repair! I do hope that you will also add a label to pay tribute to both your sweet mother and yourself as the restoration engineer. You did a beautiful job!

    ReplyDelete
  6. What a wonderful job you've done on this heirloom quilt. Lovely to see it and I'll bet you glad it's done so you can enjoy it, too.

    ReplyDelete
  7. OPMGosh...what a lovely keepsake to treasure!! Enjoy!

    ReplyDelete
  8. It's beautiful and you did an awesome job! Not fun to do all those repairs. I have a quilt top that my Mom cross stitched and it needs finishing and quilting. I have it in a cupboard and don't even think about it, but should finish it. Also, have blocks from my grandmother that need putting together and then quilted. Hope I live long enough to finish them!

    ReplyDelete
  9. You've done a wonderful job. I hope you remembered to put a LABEL on it indicating your mom making it and when and your repair. We last a GFG in a move -- I wasn't into quilting then but I sure was disappointed anyway. Someone has a very pretty pink and white one. This one will give many more years of warmth and memories.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Congratulations on getting the job done. It is a beautiful quilt. Now you can use it and enjoy it and not worry about its condition.

    ReplyDelete

I no longer will accept Anonymous comments. I hope my adjustments to Comments do not cause anyone hardships.