huntannette

wow great find...lucky you...no matter what you do, thy are treasures

Grandma Peg

Your daughter hit the jackpot, such nice tops.

thepolyparrot

I often buy vintage tops for machine quilting. I don't think it does any disservice to the quilt or the original piecer to quilt them by machine. We have beautiful examples of historic quilts that were machine quilted right around the time that the treadle sewing machine became practical and affordable for the home in the late 1800's.

I recently bought my second Grandmother's Flower Garden and it's beautiful like yours, only with a solid jadeite green where yours is white.

It's not very wide, so I'm going to applique three edges to a repro print border to enlarge it to queen size, then quilt it the way I did the first one, with feathery flowers and tufts in the flowers and a leafy vine in the green background.

Here's the first one I did - I misjudged the binding and used a print that was too strong for the majority of fabrics in the quilt. I should have used something a little more nondescript and subdued. I appliqued the triangular pieces of repro solids along the long edges to make it easier to bind and more practical to use. The ends were very frayed and I ended up trimming them straight, which was okay - but on this next one, the binding will probably follow the "v" shapes of the octagons.

needles3thread

The only way I could be happier is if ' I' had found them. Happy for you. Please show more pictures of them.

Deanne

In my family, the tops made by my grandmothers by hand, were hand tied. On a frame hanging on chair backs. They were wonderful, soft, comfy and lasted for years and years. I still have mine, past repair, but there are still some in my family that are still whole. I was surprised when I started quilting 2 years ago, how the majority are now machine quilted. They don't seem to be nearly so cuddly!

margee

Wow--those quilts are fabulous! My favorite pattern. I'm so glad that the people who have them so appreciate them. Thanks for pictures.

quiltstringz

I would say do what ever you want to - they were headed to the TRASH. If it were me I would probably machine quilt them as I couldn't afford to have them hand quilted. They will last much longer being quilted than just as a top.

barny

Picture no 1 shows some pretty even stitching to me. Looks to be maybe pretty good sewing. I have a friend who has a GFG and I would love to get my hands on it. But to no avail. It is a time consuming job too. I'm pretty old to do something like that. If I wanted to machine quilt it I would.

mwhite

Thank you everyone. I have two of these treasures washed now and they are even prettier! I will post some more pictures when I unpack the rest of the tops. I found a bunch of pattern pieces and her designs too. Some are made out of old newspapers. I got a kick out of the old newspapers, some as old as 1917! This woman was a wonderful quilter. The stitching is so even and even after washing there was no loose places! I bet the quilts that she made were so beautiful. The first picture of the GFG quilt the blocks are about 1 inch!!! That is a lot of blocks. I haven't measured it yet but I think it is a double size. I do feel like she is watching me enjoy these. : )

mwhite

I love the green. I also really love the colored border.