Baby Quilt Refurbished.
 

My former MIL made polyester string baby quilts for all her grandchildren. The last grandchild was born in 2000 and she was in her late 80's. It took her two years to finish this string quilt. It has needed mending and my daughter asked me to mend the quilt. When I got the quilt a couple of weeks ago I realized it would need a lot more than mending. The poor quilt top did not have any quilting, no batting and the backing was turned to the front for the binding, very unevenly. My daughter and I decided to give this quilt an upgrade. She bought the batting and backing/binding material and I set to work. I ripped all the stitching from the backing and the quilt top (lots of paper towels used to stabilize the strings came out when I opened this up), I kept the top pinned to the back to stabilize it while I mended it, I hand stitched the many, many seams that had come undone sewing them down on the original backing, then I sandwiched the mended top, quilted it (simple straight line grid quilting in the seams between the blocks) and gave it a fresh new binding. Lots of the rows were wonky but I wanted to keep as much of the top as I could so I just went with the shape of it, no squaring up. It's a beautiful quilt top and now it will last long enough to become an heirloom. Pictures of the front and the back.

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How fortunate to have a quilt made, then rescued and remade by two different generations of grandmothers. You just can't beat the old polyesters for rich color.

Wonderful labor of love!

A great job to save a loved one's work!

great rescue

great rescueglad you could help

A very successful rescue.

Nice work on the save!

You did a great job in rescuing this quilt. Yes, older quilts can at times be very wonky.

Good job of rescuing the quilt!

So glad you could do this former.

Very pretty scrappy, and a sweet gesture to save it in family.

I'm so glad you rescued this family quilt. The memories are worth every minute you spent on it.

Nice rescue on this quilt! Love the little "crook" on the side! Gives it lots of character and shows lots of love.

Great save!

What a job to take on! But, ohhhh so many more years of enjoying that quilt. That is love! Thanks for sharing!

that is so awesome! quite a treasure

Brilliant and sympathetic save....it now is ready for another generation....or two:)

Great save !

Very pretty and glad you were able to save it.

Just so sweet!!

I kinda like the idea of using paper towel for the foundation! It wouldn't be 'crinkly' like other papers and could be left in the quilt. Since you have now taken this quilt apart, what is your critique of that? Realizing there are different grades of paper toweling--but some are almost fabric quality, not just paper.

How wonderful of you to do this. What a treasure.

I think using paper towels are fine, but I would remove them before sandwiching.

Great job! Most of my grandmother's quilts were tied with yarn. They did not last. The floppiness caused them to wear out. Your repair made this quilt better than the original. Bravo!

Beautiful job and I love the wonkiness. It's what makes it real.

My MIL made quilts for my 3 children like this many years ago. I kept one of them and it needs repair. I have just never thought about doing anything with it. You have inspired me! My daughter will love to get it back repaired, she is such a sentimental gal about these kinds of things. thank you so much for posting!

So happy you were able to repair this quilt as it is definitely a treasured heirloom.

What a gracious job you did and how meaningful for the recipient.

Redoing is harder than making a new quilt! Congrats for saving these memories!

good job Irishgal.

You did great. BrendaK