From the front step with my little point and shoot- Mars, just above the moon. Below is what it really looks like if one has more than a cardboard camera.
I do know this , however, there are treasures to be found at the Assistance League on Senior Thursday! On my way over to Flora's house I stopped just for a look. I came away with this magnificent hand stitched quilt. It is a holy relic!
Fabric of the 30's, hand stitched perfectly, looking as though it has never been out of the cupboard. Lord knows that I do not need another quilt -but, you know, it is rarely about NEED at this point . I thought about for a while , maybe three seconds! Sixty four dollars with the discount for senior Thursday- no brainer. I marvel- I know of no one who has the patience, attention span, skills (or eye sight) to make a quilt like this these days- or the delicious fabric for that matter. Have you shopped for good cotton fabric lately? It's a desert out there in fabric land.
Speaking of Grannies- this one got to spend some of the day with the happiest child known to humankind. Today she taught monkey how to wear a necklace around its arms and legs and head all at once - only for special dancing monkey occasions, it is a difficult look to sustain (suffer). Flora Jane is indeed the fanciest dancer and a very good teacher of things- monkey feels lucky and especially glad that there are very few dancing monkey gigs.
We all are!
"like a burrito of ancient wisdom , me being bean goo in the middle"--
ReplyDeleteLOL---this is the darlingest vision.
Also, the monkey fancy dancer!
Oh my, we get handmade quilts donated sometimes, but they are almost always in shreds. I still put them out, for cheap, if I can rescue them from the textile recycling where my coworkers throw them, and they sell. But none as well preserved as that one.
The tiny hand stitches!!!
It is a wonder! A machine did not help with this one! Every stitch by hand the entire way around, Lordie- lord!
DeleteI like finding old quilts in dismal condition as long as it is not stained with fecal matter or murder. You are right to put them out because there are people who like to take them apart or mend them in interesting ways. ART! _ Art from art recycling.
All right. You have won the Absolute Best Thrifting Award! I think that quilt has been in a cupboard all these years. Or a hope chest. It is gorgeous beyond belief.
ReplyDeleteAnd so is your darling Flora. She is so lucky to have you to play with. You are the perfect playmate. You have the dolls and the dress-ups for them and you are a Big so you can make snacks, too. The best.
Yesterday when Levon and I were discussing the skies and planets he said, "Some people think there's a man on the moon but I know it was just volcanoes. Did you know that there are real volcanos on earth?"
Oh, the hungry, hungry minds of our babes.
Levon is at the best age, able to understand, Big bang and the widening of space may be too much to handle but he is ripe for the basics. This is where religion does so much damage to the development of children's brain power. Step in and give them some cock eyed reason for planets and the "heavens". Good think the kids have intelligent parents and YOU. Their lit up brains shall not be dimmed!
DeleteWhichever descendant of the woman who made that beautiful quilt that gave it away to a thrift resale shop should be whipped. Well, not really but really? Love those soft baby cheeks.
ReplyDeleteIt is possible that this quilt went to a youngster, everyone else gone from this world.
DeleteBaby cheeks- all of baby, so delicious!
That quilt is so amazing. My grandmother hand pieced and hand quilted quilts all her life. She had a quilting frame that hung from the ceiling. Unfortunately as time went on she started using polyester fabric and her sense of design deserted her. I had many of them, but I did take some to Goodwill because I would never use them, and didn't have the space to store them all. That really hurt, but the purge was on.
ReplyDeleteFlora has eyelashes to die for.
I hope that you kept your favorite non poly quilt. One is enough really.
DeleteOh you are so lucky to find that quilt in such good condition. My mother made at least 3 when living in Houston (late 40s,) before moving to St. Louis where she began a full time job, as well as mother. I don't have any of her quilts, and don't know where they went...she may have kept them until they shredded.
ReplyDeleteQuilts from the olden days...women's history, women piecing together bits to make a whole. What women do very well! Women could save the Earth.
DeleteMy mother, who I considered a quilt artist, quilted at 12 stitches/inch. This quilt appears to be 14 sts/inch. Mom says she fell into the rhythm of 12 sts/inch; it was better than being rapped on the head or knuckles with G'ma Troikey's ivory thimble. We have every one of mom's surviving quilts (very fine quilts, stored in a tin suitcase and never used on a bed, as were all her other quilts) except one. After the death of everyone involved, my Aunt was showing them off to a friend, who offered her $250 for one of them. Not being a great admirer of the maker of the quilts, my aunt sold it. When she returned the suitcase of remaining quilts, our aunt rather sheepishly told us about the sale and asked if we would like the money. Well said our aunt, she thought it was a good price. And we told her yes, for the buyer. The proper value would have been one more 0 on the end, and the first number about a 9. Our aunt thought. Finally she came up with 9,500. NO, she said. YES responded everyone in the room. We shut her up, if nothing else.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great story,Joanne! 14 sts and inch! Holy cow! I will be using this old new quilt because I am not sentimental about it, just appreciative.
DeleteHand stitched! I am so impressed. It's truly beautiful. And so is Flora and her eyelashes.
ReplyDeleteClearly the amazing woman who stitched this together in the 30's had some measure of time on her hands! AND nimble fingers.
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