[b]My dh's gm made a stack of fan-shaped pieces about 100 years ago, and he would like for me to use them in a quilt, but I am not sure how or whether there are enough to use for a quilt. "Any ideas? I have only made one baby quilt and those squares were of embroidered Peter Rabbit figures, so I could just stichthrough the seams of the squares to "quilt" the designs.

I do want to learn but I am an "older beginner" so I must learn something easy!
thanks, gramfel

Gramfel, are they in squares or just the fan shapes? If they are fan shape, you could applique them onto squares of white fabric and put them together that way. If they're already in square blocks, you could put them together with or without sashing (depending on how you want them to look) and yes, you could stitch in the ditch or just around the outside edges of the blocks if they're not too large. You want to check on how close your batting needs to be quilted. Some battings need to be quilted 2-4" and some can be quilted as much as 10" apart. If you don't plan on using the quilt, but only want to display it then how far apart you quilt isn't such an issue. Hope this helps, rather than confuses you.

Thanks for all the great replies! Gram

There is a great selection of various reproduction fabrics on the market. You could try to find some new fabric to match and add more of the same fan design. That way the old and the new can blend and make a full quilt.

I must have forgotten to push the submit button this morning. I think a wall hanging would be a nice way to preserve and display the fabric, If you want to make your whole piece to look old I would use tea dyed muslin to put the fans on.

I'd be more inclined towards a wall hanging, too.

are they true fan shapes or are there curves on the bottom also.. a really popular quilt many years ago was a clamshell.. one of the original OBW quilts.
any way you can post a pic of your wonderful treasure?

I will try to post a picture I hope by Monday. We will be out of town this weekend: Eye dr.'s appt. and visit to dd and family for gd's homecoming ballgame (she is a cheerleader), and since they live in Columbia, SC (about 70 miles from us) we will stay with them a few days.

You have all been so nice and have given me some ideas about possibilities with these!
Lulie

I don't know if you saw my post on the other thread, if so I apologize for reposting here. This is a copy of links I posted with some ideas:

http://www.oregoncoasthistory.org/whatsnew/?p=150

http://vermontquilts.com/grandmothersfan.shtml

http://www.rickrack.com/quilt/fq.html

http://www.rickandpatty.com/quilt_fan.html

http://home.howstuffworks.com/tradit...uilt-block.htm

If you do a search on the internet you will get many ideas. Some of the best i found used the fan and the jacob's ladder block in combination. I had one saved, but cannot access the site now.