Red and green antique quilt

Thanks to everyone that commented and congratulated me on my quilt "Rings and Roses" doing so well in the Sydney show. I had trouble with some emails bouncing when I tried to reply so if you didn't hear from me, thank you so very much once again. Other prize winners can be seen on the guild site here. Click on the top tabs to see the winners in each category. I picked up another ribbon for 2nd in viewers choice, it can't get better!
Now that I'm getting back into routine again, I thought I'd show you my very first antique quilt purchase. Of course it had to be a red and green and what a beauty.

I thought you'd like to see some close up photos of the quilting. I just adore feathers.

You can see that the green has faded with light over time. I have an AQS certified valuation which estimates the date of the quilt to be 1860. The maker is unknown and it most likely came from Pennsylvania. 

There are no holes or tears in the quilt but it does have some stains and general yellowed out areas mostly on the borders. I exagerated a stained area by editing the photo, it doesn't look as bad as this but it does show that maybe it needs a clean.

One interesting feature is how the serpentine feather quilting at the corners were handled. No need to worry about how to turn the corner, just stop and start at the seams. You gotta love that!

If you clicked on this photo, you may see that there are still sharp pencil marks still visible which indicates that quilt hasn't been washed and that is on the appraisal form.

Not all points are sharp but it doesn't detract one bit from the effect the feathered star blocks gives.

The stitching in the hand piecing is very close together and check out that puckering. So that's what they mean when they say that you can quilt it out. The quilting is very expertly done.

I need some expert advice about whether the quilt should be washed, if you have any thoughts, please let me know what you advise.

Last week I picked up this beauty from Bernina, the sponsors of best of show. It's unpacked and ready to go.  It's the new 750QE with the new hook system.

 

I also wanted to share this stunning crystal trophy with you, the Narelle Grieve award for excellence in hand quilting.  I'm very proud of this because I had to teach myself to hand quilt.

Here I am with some of my sewing friends at the presentation for the Bernina sewing machine this week held at Pegs Pieces.. I'm the one in the middle. Unfortunately there are two missing from the photo. We meet every Tuesday evening to stitch and they are some of the nicest people you could meet.

 

 

Until next time, Janet