I took a quilt from someone and turned back one corner of it rrom its folded state. I sad sure, I can fix this. Then I got it home and opened it up all the way. I stared in disbelief at the tattered mess before me. I thought just dig in and get it done.
I worked on it at home taking all the layers apart. Later I wished I had just overlayed it with tulle and stabilized it with more quilting. You could tell this quilt had really been used and loved. I thought it was washed but as I worked on it I realized how filthy it was. I just kept going.
I finally got all the layers separated and put the front and back in the wash for a quick wash. After a few minutes I realized I needed to drain the tub and run it again. Ugh!
I got everything dried and decided to use the backung to repair the front and to provide the new binding. I started by removing all 140 pieces of green from the quilt. A few were ok but I decided just replace them all. I felt so dsheartened taking this thing apart and seeing the damage. I wanted to quit and just make him a new one. I texted him and he agreed but he still asked that I use as much of the original one as I could. That made me feel bad. I trudged on, got everything apart and cut new green replacement pieces.
When I got to this point I was like a dog with a bone. I sewed and sewed until I had all 35 blocks back together. I did have to steal from the removed borders and backing for the other colors. I used a fusible to patch some of the holes. What a relief! Of course I got the blocks all sewn together. Yesterday I went and spread out and have all the borders cut and ready to attach too.
This is definitely a labor of love. In this case it is more my love for saving these old treasures!
What crazy thing are you working on?
Swooze
4 comments:
I'm in awe! If I had a trophy, I would gladly give it to you for the amazing labor you did on this quilt. You take the cake, dear. Wow! I mean WOW!! ;^)
Amazing job! You deserve a medal.
You did a great job! I know how much work that is. Once I took on re-quilting and a quilt for someone. I had a heck of a time getting the batting moved back into place without taking the binding off. A current project that I need to work on is redoing a double wedding ring quilt top. The top is put together so badly I am going to have to tear the whole thing apart, repair the rings, and replace the polyester/cotton background with color matched fabric. I can't use the original background because the pieces are not cut all the same size. I need to borrow or buy a set of wedding ring templates.
Good grief -- what a LOT of effort to give this quilt new life. I truly hope the owner understands just how much work you have done.
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