Last weekend, I took a road trip to St. Petersburg, Florida for a little antique shopping. My first stop was at one of my favorite antique stores … they always have amazing stuff and, over the years, I’ve left more than a few dollars there. They also have a store bird named Sunny and the store was celebrating Sunny’s birthday with cake! Yay!!
Anyway, as I’m browsing around I came across a pile of quilts. So … naturally, I had to stop and look. I pulled out three quilts I liked and then I had to choose ONE! I really like the mid-1860s LeMoyne Star quilt… but a lot of the fabrics were worn and the batting was showing. I also liked a 1930s Album block quilt that had some really interesting fabrics. However… I decided this lovely hand-appliqued Tree of Life quilt was the ONE!
It has a few minor condition issues, mainly fading and a some stains. Someone must have left the quilt folded right side out for a long time, because the staining is mostly along the fold line. I want to believe the fading is from being on a bed, near a window, since the fading is worse in one corner. In reality, it could have been that same careless person!
I think this quilt may have been a kit, which was common with applique quilts like this one. I have several other applique quilts with similar markings. The outer edge of each applique shape was marked in blue to indicate where the seam allowance should be turned under.
The quilting on this 78″ x 93″ quilt is amazing! Although some of the qulting lines appear to be stamped in blue, others are marked with pencil. Leaves, vines, flowers, and other organic shapes are quilted across the border blocks and wide sashing. The background of the center tree is quilted with wavy lines. The edges are finished with a narrow green binding.
I also bought an iron! Not just any iron either … it’s a Prilect traveling iron from the 1940s … with its original tin box! Wow! The cord looks brand new and the iron gets really hot … what a find! And yes, I plan to use this iron …
One of the things I love about shopping for antiques is you never know what you are going to find … it’s a bit like a treasure hunt! Too bad the fainting couch wouldn’t fit in the car!
Until next time … Happy Quilting! ~Nancy
That is really a neat quilt.
I have never seen one like that.
Art
I sure wish we lived closer together so we could go antique treasuring together! You are a woman after my own heart. Love the quilt and love love the iron, too. Hey, have you tried Retro Clean? I have soaked some vintage textiles in it with GREAT results.
Nancy,
The Tree of Life quilt is just beautiful. No wonder you just had to buy it!