On the line

Some quilts on the line in June.

Please excuse my rather pedestrian side drive.

I always hang a new quilt up so I can assess it.....sometimes I have little idea of the condition.

19th century red and white  Monkey  Wrench / Hens and Chickens /  Churn Dash /  Hole in the Barn Door ( Brackman 1850)   That most traditional of blocks.
 I can't resist showing Oliver playing hide and seek.

1930s lilac quilt hand embroidered with a columbine motif......I think this motif/transfer has passed my way before.

19th century 'Snowball' very much the worse for wear but still dramatic.

 Starburst....from about 1900 and a rather ugly Colonial Lady....I"ll never sell it with a remark like that. Lets say it has character.

It look nicer from behind the quince bush.  
All these quilts need some help, except Snowball which is beyond repair and will be sold 'as is' ,
I think I have my work cut out for me.

Family Matters

A belated Fathers Day dinner. Our youngest daughter was frantic, taking her last bar exam the day after Fathers Day, so she volunteered to come over  to cook dinner for the family the following  week.

We missed her graduation ceremony but will have a slap up party for her next year when she is called to the bar

Here is the family lawyer reading to Oliver....now 2 1/2. He is wearing his new sweater knitted from re-cycled New Zealand wool.....the usual  1930s pattern.

He also had fun playing hide and seek with the antique quilt that I had just bought and washed.

Back to textiles next time......

Goodbye Quilt

I said goodbye to several quilts this weekend at The Brickworks Farmers Market.

 This 1930s Bow Tie, pieced mainly in printed feedsacks.  It was its first day out with me and I hardly got to know it.

 A 1970s Trip Around the World, seen lurking at the back a year so ago.

  A fantastic Yo-Yo or Suffolk Puff  coverlet from the 1930s....my show stopper.

 And a nice bright applique Flower Pot, also from the 1930s.   Goodbye quilts, I will miss you.

The Purple Sock

On our way up to our summer cabin we like to stop for a break in Coldwater ( pop 1100). Not only do we love the local diner, The Tiffany, but there is a very friendly Post Office, a branch of my bank ( this week they are having a fund raiser book sale) and one of my favorite LYS, The Purple Sock.

Lynn has just acquired a wee bit more room at the back of the store so has come up with this imaginative display wall using vintage wash tubs.

An old washing machine is put to good use.

She always has had a lively display of old sock dryers, this is part of it. Not shown is a long stocking drier.

 Very dear to Lynn's heart,  a wee baby legwarmer dryer, found in her mothers home on top of some pipes.

The Purple Sock is closed most Mondays and Tuesdays, usually the days we go north, but I count on dropping by three ot four times a season. Lots of goodies to be had as well as a very warn welcome. 

It is also the place I find my choice of great wool socks from a mill in  Carstairs, Alberta.

quilts at the cottage

A new season of mending/tarting up/ getting ready to sell  bashed up quilts.

I do this entirely by hand with what ever is available at our summer cabin in the Georgian Bay  of Lake Huron.

First up, charming 30s Dresden Plate, very rough around the edges, was rebound with an old sheet that had just the right amount of fade. I think I must have used this sheet before as there is very little left.

The 25 patch with the lilac sashing has a pretty print back turned to the front to bind. Again the edges were very torn, so I made the 1 1/2" bind smaller by using just the front part. The original wide border had much more panache than the rather anemic 1/4"  border I ended up with....the blocks look as if they are floating away, but, it will have to do. 

Dramatic emerald green and white 'Drunkards Path'. Quite fragile all over. The borders had obviously been mended/changed before, and two sides  borders had been hacked off, so I did not feel obliged to do anything in keeping. However, I did have available, from my limited cabin supply, two rolls of vintage cotton strips. Bright Christmas red and a deep rosy red.

 

I settled on the rosy red. Now in the process of adding a narrow 1/4"bind.

It was so cold and windy on the way over to our island by boat that the lid of the food cooler was blown away.

 

I had been thinking of picking up a baby bath at a garage sale to use for soaking quilts, but now the old cooler is the official soaker tub.
 Much better than leaving it at the dump.

Liberty scarves

Its been a while since I gave you an update on my Liberty scarf collection  ( at least 2 weeks!)   Here are my new additions.

Lovely  large brown paisley, 35" square with a hand rolled hem. I wonder when the 'c' and the 'r' were introduced on the imprint. Were they made for another country or store?

Two earlier ones, from the 1950s I think, both with a wee label, my favorite sort.  Soft, gentle colours. I love the rose block print, alas it is very dirty, even I can't get the stains out.