Last week, while helping her clear out an apartment, I noticed the quilt's binding had become quite frayed along the edges, and offered to bring it home and rebind it for her. She was a bit reluctant at first, saying this was her very favorite quilt and she wrapped up in it every night, but she finally relented and it came home with me for a few days. So, this is what it looked like when I laid it out on the spare bed:
A little patchwork ensued.
The original binding was that same dark blue solid used in the sashing, and had long disappeared from the stash. I finally located a soft faded dusty rose fabric in a tiny print that looked like it would blend well with both the front and back of the quilt.
So, sporting some quilty band-aids and new binding, this one is ready to make the trip back to my daughter's place next week and will hopefully last a few more years.
Our spell of heat and humidity has finally broken, 44 degrees this morning when I turned on the coffee pot. The garden is beginning to look like it is ready for fall to arrive. I think we are too.
9 comments:
I'm so glad that you were able to bring new life to that quilt. My daughter has given me a couple of old quilts I'd made for her, asking me to salvage them. Alas, they're both beyond real repair, but I'm going to at least replace the frayed binding and try to breathe a little more life into those quilts. It does my heart good to see that one of my quilts was loved and used, as I'm sure it does yours.
What a wonderful task of love!!! Isn't it gratifying to see our quilts being loved and used? I recently had to repair a few holes in my little grandson's quilt and I actually rejoiced in the signs of usage. He won't go to bed without it, and that makes grandma's heart happy!!!
I bet you felt really good that the quilt was hard for her to part with - even to be fixed. We do want quilts to be used!
Well-loved quilts and the joy they've given others make quilting so rewarding. I have a quilt that my then-near-blind grandmother made of feedsack fabric in the 1970's. It received much the same love and cleaning and has many tears to be fixed. Back then, I was not a quilter and knew nothing of caring for such a treasure. It now awaits mending in a special chest.
That is one well loved quilt! How sweet of you to fix it back up for her.
I've noticed the pumpkins here starting to turn too. Fall is almost here.
I love your "patchwork"! And I think the new binding gives the quilt a feeling of new life. Nice job.
Doesn't it feel good to have your work appreciated?
That's a great story. I'm glad you were able to give it a new lease on life. I guess it good to keep some of that "older " fabric around. You never know. I've felt fall in the air a couple days ago. Now there's just smoke in the air from all those horrible fires in the northwest.
I have goosebumps! How wonderful the quilt is so loved. The 'band aids' are precious. Sporting it's new binding, I'm sure it will have more decades of love. Thanks so much for sharing.
We have some quilts that the mice got to and need to be repaired. It is nice seeing simple patches. I think we feel pressured to make it as good as new, but really the little patches are sweet and tell a story. Thanks for sharing.
Post a Comment