Rescued another quilt...
 

I went to an estate sale in my neighborhood yesterday and found out that the owner was a prolific quilter I had never met. The display of quilts was stunning. All very nicely displayed, and had appropriate pricing. As I turned away from the display, I noticed one quilt was under the table in a box, kind of wadded as opposed to folded. I reached down to pull it out since I noticed the "sun bonnet girl" in one square. The lady working at the estate sale said "you don't want that ugly thing, it was her first ever quilt." I spread it out and looked at it, and decided to rescue it. The lady actually said "if you want it, I will let you have it for $15"! I nearly sprained an arm paying for it before she changed her mind.

Here is my new, hand made, obviously a first, quilt. It reminds me of my first couple quilts I made before I knew what I was doing, and knowing it was her first, makes it all that much more special to me. I took a second look at her other quilts and know she took the time to learn better methods, better color/batting choices, and how to really quilt and bind a quilt. Today I am going to see if I can find out the lady's name and put a label on it (I actually have a small piece of one fabric that will match perfectly). I have never seen this particular pattern before with the sunbonnet ladies sitting down. I do think that the ruffled pantaloons, and hand embroidery shows how hard she worked on this beauty. When I find her name, I will call it ____'s quilt.

What a beautiful quilt and lovely story! Bless you for rescuing it!!!! Wonderful save!!

Do any of you have any idea of the year it might have been made? To me it looks like an 1980's era because all of the fabric is tiny calicos. The background on each square is a polyblend that has begun to pill badly. She only bound two ends by sewing the binding on using the blanket stitch only. That took some time and ingenuity.

People who don't quilt don't understand...nothing more I can say about that.

love the red lady

What a beautiful quilt. You are a lucky person and I know this quilter is smiling down from quilters heaven because you salvaged her masterpiece.

I recognize a lot of those fabrics.. great save!

It is a sweet quilt.

Beautiful quilt I am glad you rescued it.

So sad that the lady working the sale didn't find value in that quilt too. Glad you rescued it, I really like it and she obviously worked hard on it. Can't help w/dating it, sorry.

What a treasure and wonderful find.

you sure are lucky to find that precious quilt.

Thank you. What a wonderful story. It's true about "One Man's Junk Another Man's Treasure". You have found a treasure. Bless you for doing this. BrendaK

Amazing what is "ugly" to someone else can be beautiful to the next person. Good job on the rescue!

What a sweet quilt. I am so glad it is yours. A really lucky find.

You have rescued a beautiful quilt. So many times at flea markets, I will rummage into the boxes and pull out wrinkled smelly quilt tops that are actually very beautiful needing just a border to be finished.

Awesome quilt. I'm so glad you found it & got it for a great price too!

To me, it looks more like a different version of " Southern Belles"... maybe you can fin it looking by that name...it has a Ruby Hinson look to it...l' ll check my older quilt books.
You did a lovely job on it.

What a great quilt! Glad you rescued it!

Obviously a lot of work in that quilt - so glad it is being appreciated.

I'm glad you rescued it. It's a great story and a lovely first quilt. I love the pantaloons on the red lady.

What a beautiful rescue! I hope you can find out who made it and make this quilt the label it deserves!

Hi Kelly - I agree that it's a Southern Belle rather than Sunbonnet Sue quilt. One of the ladies in the guild that you and I belonged to when I lived in Oregon was working on one, but I can't remember if hers was embroidered or appliqued. I'm happy that this quilt found a home.

It's beautiful - lots of care and love was put into this quilt. You are very fortunate to rescue it. Enjoy!

I still have some of the green calico on the right border in my stash and I bought it between 83-85 in Chicago. Hope that helps narrow it down.

Thank you for rescuing and sharing this beauty.

Good save! Thanks for sharing the quilt picture and story.

What a cute quilt!!!

Good for you!