JMHO, the flowers are very delicate and dainty. If you follow your design, I would hope that the green you use would be a very soft, delicate green so as to not overpower the flowers themselves. In your diplay model, what I see is a maze of glaring green. What a wonderful find and what a shame the daughters did not appreciate, but lucky for you and I am sure that whatever you do, it will be perfect at the finish.

agree with other posters - sash and quilt them in a pastel so they are not overpowered - they are really beautiful

The very same idea occurred to me. Great minds think alike!!

Thats easyyyyyyy I would frame them in attic window blocks.

They definately will not run. I am a decorative painter and have painted a couple quilts for raffles for my local painting chapter. After this amount of time, I am positive they will not run.

Beautiful blocks, a lot of work not to be used in a quilt.
Lucky you for finding them.

Lucky find!!

I love, love, love your design for your quilt! So simple but showcases the blocks so well it looks complicated.
I bought some Sunbonnet Sue blocks at an auction several years ago that had been done in the 40's. They were on unbleached muslin and had some age spots. I serged around each square and washed with Oxiclean and dried in the dryer.I wanted them to shrink all they were going to right off the bat to see what I had to work with. Well, some had been appliqued on the squares parralell to the selvage and some were not. After washing and drying my 14" blocks were all sizes, mostly rectangular. Some rectangles were upright some were horizonal. I was able to recut then all to 10" squares.I added 30's fabric and I had enough to make my 2 Grandaughters each a twin size quilt.
Your back ground fabric lookes like it is a much better quality than what I had to work with but you might want to serge and wash to avoid any surprises after all the work of piecing and quilting.
I can't wait to see your finished quilt!

I would see if a dark green border would
make them pop. I would try to pick a pattern
That would highlight the flowers. The ladies
are correct. You will have to heat set the
Blocks because you do not know what she
Used to paint them. There is a medium
That makes the paint permant. After heat
Setting, don't worry about washing them.
What a beautiful find! Have fun designing.

I would see if a dark green border would
make them pop. I would try to pick a pattern
That would highlight the flowers. The ladies
are correct. You will have to heat set the
Blocks because you do not know what she
Used to paint them. There is a medium
That makes the paint permant. After heat
Setting, don't worry about washing them.
What a beautiful find! Have fun designing.

Nature has already said that green goes with everything. The blocks are beautiful. please post when you are finished.

Those are gorgeous!! You hit the mother load on this one. Such a great find.

They are beautiful.

Wow, they are awesome!! What would you think of placing them on point? I think that would give them much more import. I would quilt a scant 1/4" around them, then just a simple crosshatch

I would mail them to me. I love them.

I am sorry, I do not know what "cross hatching" is. my first thought also was some sashing.

I like this idea too...........think it would look lovely. Good luck with your special find.

I think the framing idea is fabulous!! If you don't know what type of paint was used, they could be ruined if ever washed..

Lovely, lovely, lovely. I agree about the light green, would tie them all together.

I think I would border them in a daisy yellow, then maybe put a green around that to make them really stand out. Good luck with whatever you decide!

Absolutely lovely! What a find. Can't wait to see what you end up doing with them. They will make a beautiful quilt!

The daughters missed out big-time. The grandchildren may never forgive them for letting them go. I have stuff my mother made scattered around my house and they don't even go with my decor. Who cares. They're precious to me. The idea of giving the artist full credit is really important. she should be celebrated.

I like your EQ design but find the border a little over powering. I'd recommend a more subtle border, maybe a light colored small flower print. In the 70s we "set" fabric paint by pressing with a cloth soaked in vinegar. If they are painted with fabric paint you probably won't have a problem. Any other kind of paint (and it could be) and all bets are off. The blocks are beautiful. Good luck.

IMO, no, it would distract from the lovely florals. I would try and find a pretty floral print with white background for sashing and borders. They are all beautiful and I would like to have your "problem".

What a find! Like you, I'd would had to have had them! As a painter in my other life, you could take a dampened cotton swab and swab a small area, maybe near the base of of leaf, to see if the paint comes off. Even if it does remove a bit of paint it would resemble the shading already there. I would also wash gently in cold water if ever washed. Perhaps just hanging it out in the spring for an airing would suffice, especially if used on a guest bed. I agree with previous posts about sashing and embroidery of flower names. Great ideas.

Wow what a find !! I would sash them.

Nice framing, but too much green solid. IMO a softer print would enhance the florals.

Im not sure what I would do with them but they are really cute.

Ditto! Love those blocks and would choose a softer print.

Those are fabulous! I have a hand painted cotton tablecloth that was done in the 50's - I still use it, and have washed it many many times without the colors running.

I think green sashing also. I would write the name with a marker I think. embroidery might look to heavy since they're painted. What a beautiful find. Gorgeous!

These are spectacular. I wouldn't embroider the names on them - I'd leave them just as the artist did. I think greens would be best... And I also go with hand quilting - something simple.

I would handquilt them in groups of 4, then frame in wood (no glass ) so they sort of "puff" out from frames.

How beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love them. I would put a border around each one so that it looked like it was framed, and then sew them together.

I'm a painter and a quilter. DO NOT WASH!!!!! They have been shaded and you will lose all the shading, as that paint has been thinned. It is beautiful now,but not if you wash them. I would lay a thin cloth over them and press good with steam, let dry and then do your sewing, what ever you want to do. Also, if you frame them, you do want glass on it. The non glare glass with spacers between the glass and fasbric. If left unglassed, the material will deteriate over time and and the paint would start to deteriate and flake off.

funny you mention SBS...I have a set of 48 SBS blocks that I had bought as an incomplete quilt top. Meaning they had all been sashed and some of the rows put together. However they were sashed in the brightest teal blue poly cotton the TG&Y must have had that year. I paid a lady to take them apart so that I can use the blocks properly. that was 2 years ago. I am still not sure what I want to do with them. Make 1 huge quilt or 2 twins. The SBS are all original 30-40's fabrics done with the finest embroidery around them. They are amazing... and there are 48 of them. They are about 12" right now!

The EQ design does not really do it justice, because I had to use the colors in their pallette and the flowers in their applique selection. MY flower blocks are very bold, bright and vivid, a pastel color for the sashing would fade away and make the blocks look like bold blobs...I tried that...
as for the appliqued border, it was the best I could do in EQ, but I am leaning towards some sort of floral print. However, when I took the blocks to the quilt shop, NOTHING worked! It was all way too busy and totally distracted from the floral blocks. They competed too much!

Going to try and play in EQ and get an attic window setting done and see how that looks. Attic window quilts generally do not need a big border to finish them off.

A pale seafoam sort of green would make these colors really stand out. I would definately hand wash one first before putting all the effort into a quilt only to find out they fade/fall apart. Maybe dry clean???

OMG ! Such foolish daughters to not recognize the wonderful gift their mother left them.
My GM made a quilt for each of her GDs to have after she died, but my uncle gave them all to a friend of his. The one GD who did get a quilt threw it in the back of her van for the dog. How sad!