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A Tale of Two Victorian Crazy Quilts - in Four Parts

Parr 1
Setting the Scene

This pair of crazy quilts still lives in the family and the town where they were made, with a descendant of the two quiltmakers.  

They were made circa 1890 in Brooklyn, Connecticut, by Emily Harris, and her daughter, Eva May Harris.  They are great-grandmother and grandmother to the current owner.  One of the quilts has a small piece of red fabric embroidered with the name of Samuel Cady Harris, Emily's husband.

Both quilts include bright yellow Special Constable ribbons and commemorative ribbons celebrating the ...

Preserving Our Quilt Legacy Virtual Workshop
Introductory Video

Hi, Friends!

I'm discovering new ways to reach out and find more people who are wanting to learn about repairing caring for old quilts - so we can have more quilters "preserving history one quilt at a time".

I've just listed my big workshop on Global Teacher Connection - a great website which lists all sorts of virtual classes and lectures, and also hosts informational presentations for teachers, guild program chairs, and so on.  

My new promotional video is linked at the photo above.  Full information and registration are on my website ...

Taking good care of antique and vintage quilts is taking good care of family, textile, and social history. It’s a wonderful journey! 

My next workshop will be held January 27 - February 24 2024, on 5 consecutive Saturdays.  All the details and registration are on my website.  If you have questions, contact me here or at annquilts@comcast.net. 

Restoration

Conservation

Preservation

Philosophy

Techniques

Supplies 

Each student can present one (or two if time allows) quilts for discussion of how, when, and why to use the various supplies and techniques. All eras and styles are welcome.  This will be our ...

Quilt Repair Tidbits.  The next (somewhat) weekly installment of quilt repair tidbits and photos.

This week’s tidbit:  A hand-me-down set of vintage/antique Mosaic/Grandmother’s Flower Garden blocks.

I’ll be teaching a virtual quilt care and repair workshop in winter 2024.  One thing I’ll be talking about is learning how to tell the age of the fabrics in old quilts.  These blocks have a secret key to their age. 

All the info about the workshop is on my website.  And you can email me to be added to the interest list for notification when registration opens ...

The next post of fun quilt repair moments. 

This week:  a prize-winning family heirloom quilt.  Check out the design and sewing skills, about as perfect as a quilt can get.

I hope this beauty will inspire you to join in the virtual quilt repair and care workshop that I will be teaching in winter 2024.  All the info is on my website.  Email to be added to the mailing list for notification when registration opens.

The workshop will cover restoration and conservation supplies and techniques and how to choose which to use, and also, fabric history, and preservation concepts like ...

The second installment of weekly quilt repair tidbits and photos.

Schoolhouse quilt, c. 1915-20

This week: a wonderful schoolhouse quilt, a lovely and unusual rendition of a favorite traditional block.  One of the benefits of working with antique and vintage quilts is that it’s like having your own up close and personal quilt show!

I hope I can inspire you to join the virtual quilt repair and care workshop I’m planning for winter 2024.  All the info is on my website.  Email  me to be added to the mailing list for notification when registration opens.  

The workshop will ...

The worktable.  Grandmother’s Flower Garden c. 1980

I’m starting a new little outreach project here.  A weekly tidbit and photos.  A new insight or skill?  A really cool fabric?  Who knows what it’ll be!

This week’s tidbit:  I’ve found myself ending up patching with fabrics that at first glance I was sure would look terrible.  They certainly aren’t exact matches, but end up being just right.

My underlying goal is to inspire new students for the virtual workshop I’m planning for winter 2024. All the info is on my website.  And you can ...

Do you know how there can be a project with one little glitch that ends up defining the whole process even though the project was otherwise super successful and fun?  Well, this quilt had one pesky fabric that would not "accept" anything in my stash as a fair patch.  

You see, it's actually a really fun quilt.  I date it to the 1940s or so.  I'm super fond of the color combination, especially the use of the solid orange.  I'm generally not a fan of orange, but in this case, I absolutely love the bright sparkle it ...

Here comes some thinking and wondering that I've been doing lately.

Over the last few years, people have been asking me to repair soooo many really seriously damaged quilts from the 1960s-70s and onwards.  For the most part, these are family heirlooms, made by beloved grandmas and great-grandmas.  

I'm thinking that what I'm seeing are the quilts that have been used and loved and "used up" in the old-fashioned terminology. 

Many are not fancy in pattern or workwomanship.  Part of this is that in the 1950s-70s era, the making of super intricate quilts kind of drifted off ...

This quilt is basically a utility comforter.  It's made of large scraps and tied with yarn.  The ties are done with many colors that march in lines across the quilt rather than being a scattered mix.  I think this makes the quilt quite fun!

Plus, it's had a mishap that I think actually makes it kind of wonderful.

Apparently, it was washed at some point, and a piece of cream wool shrank, gathering up the rest of the fabrics around it.  Adding that in with the colorful ties gives it such a unique personality, don't you think ...

This small quilt that came to me for repair is a family heirloom with a touching story.  

Here's the story as told by the owner:
Thanks so much for restoring this quilt.  It was made for my grandfather around 1962-63 after he suffered three consecutive heart attacks.  Two women who worked in his accounting practice made the quilt, so it is precious to me.

What made the repair fun for me were the fabrics.

The fabric with the most disintegration was probably silk, given the nature of the damage.  But the rest are probably rayons.  (I didn't do ...

I am fascinated by this quilt.  It was brought to me for minor repairs by the granddaughter of the quiltmaker.  (Thanks to her for the photo above.)  Not only are the design and fabrics really interesting, but the stories about the woman who chose them are great, too.

First, the design.  I don't remember ever seeing a quilt like this, with it's plain, all-white center panel with a frame and the deep appliquéd drop around the sides of the bed.  Have any of you seen such a quilt?  

My mind wants to place it in the 1960s and ...

Hi, everyone!  I'm announcing a new video on my YouTube channel.  It's a bit of a tour of my quilting studio and fabric stash.

You'll see fabrics, new art quilts, and loads of doo-dads.  

Click here to access the video.

Please come visit!  

(You can also find my channel and see the whole video collection, and my interview on the Just Wanna Quilt podcast, by searching in YouTube for my name - Ann Wasserman.)

 I've set the dates for my next Preserving Our Quilt Legacy Virtual Workshop!

 *** January 28 - February 25, 2023 ***

The sessions will be held on five consecutive Saturdays, 3.25 hours per day, via Zoom.  Various shorter "alá carte" options are also available.  

I started working with old quilts, when my love of "old things" joined up with the discovery of the wonderful world of quilts.  I have met wonderful quilt owners, historians, and restorers, and I feel I have also met wonderful quilters of the past through their quilts.  I have learned all sorts of fascinating new knowledge and ...

I've got a new quilt repair video up on YouTube!  This one looks at an Improved 9-Patch brought to me for repair by my friend Pat.  

(You'll find a few other videos there, as well as an interview with me on the Just Wanna Quilt podcast.)  

It's a lovely quilt, in both design and stitchery skills.  The video highlights the decision process I went through in picking the patching fabrics.

You can also visit a post on this blog about this quilt.  It's a great quilt, one of these where I ended up photographing pretty much ...

Just a little while ago, I wrote about how exciting it is to find an exactly matching fabric when patching vintage and antique quilts.  I told the stories of 6 times that has happened for me in nearly 40 years of repairing quilts.  

And lo and behold, number 7 just happened!  

The quilt in question is a 1930s Dresden Plate with what today is known as an ice cream cone border.  

Not only is the fabric exact, but it is a piece taken out of an old quilt and very nearly the same shape as well.  

And there is also ...

Earlier this week, I had some quality sewing time, and made good progress on the Project Linus quilt on the longarm. I finished the quilting, and removed it from the frame.

The quilting is a cloud pantograph in navy blue Signature cotton thread.

I added a label to the back. Several readers asked last week about where we got these labels. Ours are printed words on a long, cotton twill ribbon that we cut apart. There are about 3 labels per foot. I found a similar one on Amazon – Personalized Cotton Ribbon, and more options HERE.

In just an afternoon ...

The category "Hawaiian quilt" probably conjures up the well-known style of quilt developed in Hawaii.  These quilts use two large pieces of solid-color fabric.  One piece is folded like a paper snowflake, cut in an intricate botanical pattern, carefully unfolded onto the base fabric, and appliquéd down.  Then, it is quilted in parallel lines that echo the shapes of the appliqué.  

This quilt was made in Hawaii, as the machine embroidered label tells us, but varies from this famous design style.  

The pattern is three ribbon-like strips entwined with a leafy vine.  The quilting is the signature style, echoing the ...