Long Ago Garage Sale Find
08-28-2019, 02:10 AM
#1
Senior Member
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Join Date: Jul 2019
Location: Gainesville, Missouri
Posts: 520
Long Ago Garage Sale Find
I was going through my sewing cabinet tonight, cleaning it out and dusting to make room for a new sewing machine and some accessories, came across something really neat and thought I would share it with everyone.
I have a fiance who is a major scavenger. Most of the time, all I have to do is tell him I'm looking for something and he always finds what I'm looking for. I once said I wanted a few antique brass candle holders, I have so much brass now it's almost silly, he's that good.
When he found out that I wanted to start to quilt again, he decided to surprise me and started doing his scavenging at garage sales and brought home a big box of things for me to go through. What I found inside really surprised me.
It's not so much that it's the Spinning Spools and Best Loved Quilt Patterns binders, but these things barely had any use out of them. Inside I found the patterns and instructions, but there's pages and pages of plastic pattern templates that have never been cut free to use and inside the Best Loved Quilt Patterns, I found quite a few pages of handwritten notes, patterns, templates and instructions for Blocks of the Month on graph paper.
I talked to my Aunt who is involved in a quilting group from three of our local churches, she was unable to tell me much other than in the 1980's (the dates on a few of the patterns came from 1987, 88 and 89), the quilting groups were pretty prevalent but that most have since stopped because many of the members are no longer with us. There was a name on one of the pages, I tracked down her family and sadly, she's no longer with us but they were delighted that a quilter would not only take the time to track her down to find out more, but that the books are going to be loved, which they are.
There were a few other quilting books that he snagged, a couple of them were paperback and were so new, when I opened them the spine cracked like they do when you first get them off of the shelves. I joked with him a few days later and asked why he didn't go through the fabrics that they had for sale as well, he said he was going to but that another quilter had come along and bought her entire stock for $200, ten full totes were being loaded up into a van when he got there and he had to literally run to the books and start grabbing before someone else came along. I'm glad he snagged what he did.
I have a fiance who is a major scavenger. Most of the time, all I have to do is tell him I'm looking for something and he always finds what I'm looking for. I once said I wanted a few antique brass candle holders, I have so much brass now it's almost silly, he's that good.
When he found out that I wanted to start to quilt again, he decided to surprise me and started doing his scavenging at garage sales and brought home a big box of things for me to go through. What I found inside really surprised me.
It's not so much that it's the Spinning Spools and Best Loved Quilt Patterns binders, but these things barely had any use out of them. Inside I found the patterns and instructions, but there's pages and pages of plastic pattern templates that have never been cut free to use and inside the Best Loved Quilt Patterns, I found quite a few pages of handwritten notes, patterns, templates and instructions for Blocks of the Month on graph paper.
I talked to my Aunt who is involved in a quilting group from three of our local churches, she was unable to tell me much other than in the 1980's (the dates on a few of the patterns came from 1987, 88 and 89), the quilting groups were pretty prevalent but that most have since stopped because many of the members are no longer with us. There was a name on one of the pages, I tracked down her family and sadly, she's no longer with us but they were delighted that a quilter would not only take the time to track her down to find out more, but that the books are going to be loved, which they are.
There were a few other quilting books that he snagged, a couple of them were paperback and were so new, when I opened them the spine cracked like they do when you first get them off of the shelves. I joked with him a few days later and asked why he didn't go through the fabrics that they had for sale as well, he said he was going to but that another quilter had come along and bought her entire stock for $200, ten full totes were being loaded up into a van when he got there and he had to literally run to the books and start grabbing before someone else came along. I'm glad he snagged what he did.
08-28-2019, 03:17 AM
#6
Super Member
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Iowa
Posts: 8,128
Good for him!! Best Loved Quilt Patterns was a series of patterns that they sent you a few each month. There are 2 books in the complete set. I have them both. It was something that I looked forward to each month when I began quilting. There instructions that came and the templates were well written and easy to understand. They helped me get started. I have made several quilts from the patterns. Sometimes, there were quilting stencils, too.
08-28-2019, 03:28 AM
#8
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2019
Location: Gainesville, Missouri
Posts: 520
I'm really having a hard time picking out which pattern I want to do first, every time I turn the page, I see something new. I may have to do small wall hangings with some of them! I have a DWR that I'm doing for my younger sister, I'm going to use the pattern out of the book for it, but after that, I have no clue, LOL!
Crazy part is that he used to help his grandmother quilt when he was a teenager, so he actually knew the value of what he found.
Crazy part is that he used to help his grandmother quilt when he was a teenager, so he actually knew the value of what he found.
08-28-2019, 04:47 AM
#10
Super Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Waterford Michigan
Posts: 7,241
Yepper he is a keeper! The one book "best loved quilt patterns" is right this minute sitting at my feet. I pulled it out a couple days ago to pull out a stencil for a quilt that I am working on. Over the years it has been handy to have.
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