Antique American Quilt - Pix

Well done Bronnie! It's so pretty and no-one would ever know that it was not completed by the lady who started it, all those years ago. A great labour of love for you. . In message , Bronnie writes

Thanks Pat. It is pretty -- there was plenty of labour in it! Bron

That is indeed still vibrant and has a special quality to it!Well done on the finishing of it.

You did a wonderful job finishing that quilt Bronnie. I know what you mean when you say the history just emanates from it. A few years back we were in Monroeville, Alabama, and there just happened to be a quilt show going on in the local courthouse. There were quilts hanging there that were made by slaves long ago, and you could almost *hear* them. Found the display totally fascinating.

Sharon (N.B.)

"Bronnie" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news: snipped-for-privacy@z28g2000prd.googlegroups.com...

Howdy!

Beautiful!

At first look it appears to be one quilt hanging in front of another, then I see what a lovely border effect does. Clever. ;-) Really pretty, Bronnie. Congrats on Finishing!, and on HAND quilting this beauty. (Now you see why I do this for love &/or $ ).

You know, there are more unFinished quilt tops here in Texas; why don't you come back and pick up another one? I'll go with you, I'll even drive. Comfort's just due west of Houston a few hours; you've heard of Houston, right?

Well done!

WOW! Amazing job! Eight weeks for a quilt that size? That's super fast ... don't suppose you'd give pointers? :)

I'm assuming you did the prairie points yourself? I've always wanted to try that but it seems so intimidating ...

Again, congrats and kudos! :) Gorgeous!

Next time you're languishing in the South (what else does one do in the South?) head up to 'Lanta, Georgia and go to the Atlanta Underground (a tourist Mecca in and of itself) ... there, in a tiny basement (for lack of a better term) is the Underground Museum, a tribute/display of the daily life of slaves in the South and specifically, those who participated in the Underground Railroad. You'll see amazing artwork, gorgeous fabrics (though not a LOT - I even bought a little bit and it's beautiful) and QUILTS! Original quilts that carried messages to those in the Underground Railroad ... you'll cry, laugh and have a deeper understanding of what it was like ...

Somewhere someone is looking down at you, smiling and singing...."thank you!" It's wonderful.

....cut....

Oops! I should have read this before replying to the other post.

Wow! That's wonderful, Bronnie! Congratulations all over again! :)

Very pretty!

We'll definitely stop off at Atlanta next time.....I'm thinking Houston show later this year -- but no decision yet . Bron

Hehehehe. I'll come visit at any rate!

Quilting was simple cross hatch through middle of blocks. And some outlining, squares in the border.

The reason I put it aside unfinished was I used a wool/mix wadding which together with the coarse feed sack materials and a simple homespun backing, made it rather thick for hand quilting. I tried to use my usual quilt running stitch in the hoop and I just couldn't achieve a small even stitch.

So, getting it out again in May, I thought, try another method -- the stab quilt stitch, up and down one stitch at a time. I gather some folk use this method solely....Once I got accustomed to it, using it with the hoop, I got quite fast and accurate. It has given me a sore muscle at the base of one thumb but that looks like on healing now it is finished.

The prairie points were just just the old setting triangles, with the seam under, sewn by machine to a strip of the green "border" and then handstitched (applique I suppose) to the background. I made the final binding wider than usual -- a generous 3/4" to match the green border above. I'll post a further photo of the original top as purchased.

-- Cheers Bronnie

To my mind, it was just two borders - the green strip with the triangles added on top of the 'background' fabric. Just worked with I had really -- only had a finite number of useable triangles so it was bulked out with a green one between every four or five on only 3 sides of the quilt. Alot of my work has a 'mind of its own' and just morphs into the finished piece! Shock, horror, for the quilt police/purists .

-- Cheers Bronnie

Again, WOW. You deserve even more kudos than before ... hand quilted through wool batting?

And I thought cotton was hard! Not to mention, what little experience I've had with feedsacks (was able to make a teeny-tiny baby quilt using feedsacks for applique) says quilting through feedsacks would be like quilting through stiff, starched, denim!

That's an awful lot of dedication ... what made you feel that you had to finish it? I know we all hope to finish our UFOs ... but you actually went further and finished someone else's!

Again, I can't say it enough ... WOW! :)

I've never used the stab stitch ... I don't even know if I would know how. I like the "running stitch" - it seems to get more done in less time! :)

So you have kudos for THAT, too! :)

It's really neat ... at one time depressing AND joyful. To imagine what those people went through and what they were STILL able to accomplish ... I don't know about you, but I get stressed out over the kids' & hubby's shenanigans ... I couldn't imagine adding servitude, abuse, complete lack of respect and recognition of my rights as a human being, bigotry, and cruel living conditions ...

The whole exhibit will only take you about an hour? Depending on how crowded (which, unfortunately, it usually isn't - been there twice and neither time was it busy) it is. All in all, you'll feel simultaneously disgust for your fellow man and pride/amazement in him as well.

Ahhh ... Houston. I have no idea if I'm going to get to go ... Hubby might be out of town on a biz trip then which leaves me traveling alone with two kids (one of which a boy who has NO interest in fabric other than clean undies) ...

May you be the first one there, with the biggest budget! :) Or, I guess NO budget is preferable, right? :)