I found these at an estate sale and just had to have them.
I spoke with the daughter of the lady who made these and she said her mom stenciled them then painted over them as well to add the highlights etc! They are cotton muslin. The daughter also said that her mom made a set for each of her 2 sisters and none of them ever made a quilt out of the blocks! How sad is that.

They are really stunning, the lady was a painter and it shows in these blocks. These were made in the early 70's!

I hope they are cured enough, I am chicken to water test one!

I am playing with some ideas in EQ but wondered why you all thought might could be done to really show case the blocks, not distract from them.

I also want hand quilt them simply.

Pretty! Pretty! I would probably sash them with a light green or maybe a medium brown and then cross hatch, stopping and starting at the painting.

They are beautiful.. be sure to heat set the paint,,it could fade if cleaned.


I would sash & border them in the green


Lucky you, have fun.

do you think I should hand embroider the flower name on the block?

How beautiful!!!

Being a cottage style decorator, I would frame them and hang them all together on a wall in a large, even grouping. They would look gorgeous on a green or yellow wall!

I would maybe make two small quilts and frame the actual blocks in maybe two colors.

I agree with the other posters... add some sashing, embellish with a little embroidery, and quilt with some cross hatching.

This is rare find and so beautiful! How lucky you are, or should I say how lucky the blocks are that you rescued them!

Absolutely gorgeous! I hope they don't run or fade. Isn't there something that will set them so they don't?

That's what I would do. I would not embroider names on but then I don't like doing hand embroidery.

I think they would look good in an attic windows setting

Wonderful blocks. If on muslin, may shrink.
Their loss your gain. Green sashing & borders. One of the greens used on any flower if you can find it. Almost all flowers have some green as part of their growth cycle. It is a natural. You have a real treasure.

If you do not want it I do. Your idea of hand quilting would add value to the quilt.

These are beautiful... I cannot imagine daughters not wanting their mother's art... I treasure my mother's art! I think the hand quilting is exactly what these need... keep it simple... I agree with green sashing...

This will be lovely!!

I definitely agree, they would be beautiful framed on the wall. What an incredible find!!

I would make a magnolia block. If you go to the search button and type in magnolia it will take you to a post on this site that shows a wonderful picture. The address is below.


http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-9272-1.htm

just gorgeous!!! definitely sash and crosshatch!!!

What a great idea, IF someone had the room. To hang on the wall in frames. so very beautiful.. Nice find :)

Do not fret, they kept all of her framed and unframed watercolors that were amazing...just none of them liked textiles apparently because I also bought two of her quilts!

since cotton requires special framing it would be costly to do all of these like that, but I had considered keeping some of my faves to make matching pillows and art on the wall!

That is going to make a beautiful quilt. I like the ideas from the posts.

that magnolia block is a beautiful way to showcase blocks !
but depends on how big the blocks are. above 6" or so would not look right. if you sash, flower or leaf fabric would look great. what a treasure !!

the blocks are 10"!

this may sound dumb, but what is a magnolia block?

Be sure and label the quilts as to their history. Your kids will appreciate that somewhere down the line! These are gorgeous.

They are really beautiful.

Make some solid color sashing with vines and leaves.

What a great find! I agree that sashing them in a light green would be very pretty.

Very pretty, nice work on all of the flowers. My favorite is the Iris block, so beautiful!

If they are cured and won't run I probably would sash and qult, but I do like the idea of Rose L who said she would frame them and hang them on the wall. Great idea and they wouldn't ge wet and ruined. I could picture them in every room.

gorgeous!

What about the attic window so they would look like they were framed?

I made sure to get all the info from the ladies daughter, as I want to make sure people who knew her or her family will see it at the fair and now it was her work that inspired me to create the quilt!

THose are beautiful!
If you still don't know what to do with them, PM me and I'll give you my addy and you can send them to me! :)

Such pretty blocks! Green sashing is needed~

If they have to be in a quilt, I would just sash them.

Lovely, great on a wall or bed.

OMG!! those are beautiful! Please post a picture when you do make your quilt. I would really love to see them in person. You are one lucky lady!

This is my design thus far in EQ Just simple snowballs and 9P! This quilt would be 85 x 94 when done

I was watching a woman fabric coloring on QNN the other day and she used a product called textile medium to paint over her designs that she colored in with colored pencils. She said to only paint it over the colored part. She does this to make the coloring colorfast to withstand laundry. She said otherwise they would wash out. Maybe you could do this. Good luck

Wow, I love the design you came up with on EQ. That will be such an original, unique creation and one you can certainly showcase and be very, very proud of.