I rebuilt this quilt using as much of the "Sun Bonnet Sue's" that were salvageable from a friend's quilt that her grandmother, Annie Cordelia Earle, had made years ago. My friend, Lesley, wasn't sure exactly when her grandmother had finished the quilt.
The quilt had seen good use over the years and was well loved so it was well worn. Figuring out how to rebuild this quilt, with my new quilting skills and still learning, and trying to stay faithful the the original quilter's style and measurements, was quilt the challenge. I'd figured this would take me all winter, but instead, I finished it just after Christmas. The biggest mistake I made was in not pinning (basting) it tightly enough through the three layers. There is some puckering on the back that the original quilt did not have. It laid flat. Now I know how to correct for that (using painters tape or masking tape and laying the backing on the floor, taped, before layering the others, and using a "grapefruit spoon" to place the basting pins.
It was such an intimate thing to make this quilt. To make any quilt really. People who don't quilt and who are given a quilt by someone, really don't have any way to fully appreciate the time and the love that went into a quilt. I know now. It is amazing. It is a beautiful labor of love.
The quilt had seen good use over the years and was well loved so it was well worn. Figuring out how to rebuild this quilt, with my new quilting skills and still learning, and trying to stay faithful the the original quilter's style and measurements, was quilt the challenge. I'd figured this would take me all winter, but instead, I finished it just after Christmas. The biggest mistake I made was in not pinning (basting) it tightly enough through the three layers. There is some puckering on the back that the original quilt did not have. It laid flat. Now I know how to correct for that (using painters tape or masking tape and laying the backing on the floor, taped, before layering the others, and using a "grapefruit spoon" to place the basting pins.
It was such an intimate thing to make this quilt. To make any quilt really. People who don't quilt and who are given a quilt by someone, really don't have any way to fully appreciate the time and the love that went into a quilt. I know now. It is amazing. It is a beautiful labor of love.
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| A friend suggested I take a piece of the old fabric, still in good shape, off the original and sew it on the back and put both our names on it. And sew I did. |
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