Rescued and Adopted
October 7, 2011
I found this quilt on my birthday(!) about four years ago in a very unlikely junk shop just outside Springfield, TN. It was wadded up and stuffed in a corner, and when I opened it up, it just took my breath away. I felt really lucky to have found it and rescued it. When I realized how old it really was (when I got it out into the light) I felt that it needed to be in a setting where it could be respected and enjoyed, which means not in my house, where the stuff that’s used is really used. I wasn’t sure if or how to wash it, or if it should be bound and finished, or used as is, or stored along with the umpteen other quilts I’ve “rescued” through the years.
The work in this quilt is just amazing…tiny, tight little stitches and perfectly matched points. About a jillion points. It dates from about 1880 and has wool batting. The fabrics include some copper rollerplate prints from the 1830s or so, and lots of indigos.
It sold this week to a buyer in Minnesota. I hope she loves it.
Rescued from a junk shop!
Thread-Head 
October 7, 2011 at 7:14 pm
I am so jealous! I always dream of finding that one special object – quilt, plate, glass, whatever – in a junk or charity shop, but I havent so far.
How did you get it cleaned in the end? Do it yourself or did you have to go to a speciality cleaner?
It sounds like a lot of work, but when you consider they had no TV, few books (the Bible being the most common book), and quilting done by either those who had to from necessity, or those who had the money and “leisure time” to do it, both often in groups, it’s amazing but not wholly unsurprising
October 19, 2011 at 4:17 am
The cleaning hasn’t happened yet. It’ll be here probably Wednesday, and I’ll first vacuum it through a screen; then wash in the bathtub, I think. It’ll weigh a million pounds when it’s wet, but that’s the only way to do it! I’ll post pix when it’s done. Thanks for the comment, and best of luck to you in your own treasure hunt./Beverly
June 20, 2012 at 6:56 pm
Acho que não venderia.sinto muito por você…