Help with an old quilt
 

The wonderful lady at my post office gave me some old quilts her mother had, since she knows I love them!! This one was hand tied and has no batting. I would like to re tie the quilt but have know idea where to begin. I am afraid my kittens will think the current ties are play things!!! And help would be greatly appreciated!!!

Do you have a deck or porch? I would get an iced tea (in a spill proof bottle!) and take an afternoon and remove all the ties. Use a pair of scissors with sharp points and carefully snip the knot, making sure you don't cut the fabric. They are going to go all over, hence the deck/porch question. Looks like it's edged with gathered eyelet, so I would guess the back is joined using a pillowcase method. Find where it was turned and unpick those stitches. turn it back inside out and cut a piece of batting to fit and re turn the quilt. This is also called birthing a quilt. There are lots of videos on this. Once it's turned you can quilt it or tie it again.

You have good eyesight Paper Princess, I hadn't noticed the edging at first. Good explanation you have given.

Before going to all that work, I would see how the kitties react. It may not be a problem. What a nice gift you have received though and it is very cherry "coverlet".

See if you have a pair of scissors where the points curve up. They're usually made for applique and hand-quilting to avoid sticking the points into the fabric as you are clipping threads.

You could use a different color cord to retie it and go ahead and tie it, then snip off the white ones, keeping it together while working on it. You could also tape a small paperbag to your chair arm and when you snip a piece put it in the bag for cleanup.

Beautiful quilt, hope you enjoy it for many years.

delma