Vintages Blocks and Quilts

A few weeks ago, someone brought me some blocks her mom had made back in the 60's. There are 18 of these blocks.

They are sewn by hand, and I don't think a single one is square, and they aren't quite the same size, although they seem to be around 15".

She also had several yards of a coordinating fabric

and asked me how big a quilt I could make with the 18 blocks and the extra fabric. Hmmmm. Not very big unless I use a really wide sashing and really wide borders. I found some handwritten notes in the bag and still couldn't figure it out.

How could she plan on getting a 76" x 90" quilt from 18 blocks? Finally, today it hit me. She was planning on using that coordinating fabric for alternate blocks. I sketched it out on paper, and sure enough, I can get a pretty big quilt if I do it that way. I'm actually pretty relieved to have figured it out, and I have started cutting the out the green squares so I can start piecing everything together. There may be a few tucks here and there to get those pieced squares (which I now know are Star of Bethlehem, according to the notes) to fit.

I originally had plans to work on this one:

I had figured out what I wanted for the border and took it to the ironing board to see if I could steam some of the fullness out of it. It is also hand stitched.

Unfortunately, some of the stitches have popped loose on the ends of the rows, and I will have to do some repairs before I can add a border.

Some of the fabrics are a loose weave, and it looks like the knots at the end of the stitching have popped loose. It looks to me like it has been laundered, which could also be part of the problem. I haven't decided if I want to do the repairs by hand or by machine, so this one is back on the UFO pile.