Monday, August 22, 2011

quilts quilts quilts // my new obsesssion



so, every time i make a journey back to savannah to visit my family, i usually either bring some sort of project to work on that fits neatly into my carry on. this time, i brought nothing (!) and after one day back it was killing me that i had so much free time, and no projects to work on.

on a visit to my grandma's house, she mentioned a quilt that she made.......when she was 15. this prompted us to go digging through all of her closets, pulling out quilt after quilt that she has made over the years. these quilts are GORGEOUS. tiny pieces meticulously stitched to other tiny pieces with every corner matching perfectly, every seam a perfect complement to the next. i assumed the front design was pieced together with a machine, and the quilting was done by hand. nope. ALL handstitched. all million seams for thousand pieces for this king size quilt were handstitched. then, when i asked her about the batting inside, she said, "what do you mean, 'where'd i get it?' i picked the cotton myself." (my grandma is a bit of a tough old bird who grew up on a farm in the country.) turns out she not only picked the cotton, but ran it through the gin, then matted it out to make the layer of cotton cushion inside this quilt.





she let me pick out my favorite and i carted it home to study it and figure out how i was going to get this thing back to nyc in my suitcase. after about 10 minutes i decided that my new project would be a quilt. my boyfriend's mom is an avid quilter, so i spent the next day poring over her quilt book designs (amish quilt designs are pretty unbelievable, by the way), ordered some books online for myself, and picked out my first design i wanted to try. now i'm almost done with my first one, and have some more projects in mind. more to come on that soon!

9 comments:

nancy knits said...

absolutely stunning!!

Jess said...

WOW!!!! I love quilts but have never had the courage to try it myself yet, your grandmas are amazing though!! And so inspiring!!

Jess x
http://pinkindielondon.blogspot.com/

Katie said...

This is such a lovely quilt! My first sewing class was actually a quilt class, and I made a doll-sized quilt. I was 8, and I haven't made one since! I can't wait to see what you come up with.

Anonymous said...

what a wonderful story of your grandmother!

Miss Val's Creations said...

How wonderful! Quilting is such an amazing art. I love that your grandmother saved a quilt she made at 15...and she picked her own cotton! What a perfect heirloom. Happy quilting. ~Val

Nikki said...

It is gorgeous! I've been wanting to give it a try, but I'm lazy. I saw some quilts this weekend made with saris. Beuatiful muted colors and a running stitch by hand for the quilting. I need to find myself some saris, I think I could make one of those...a little less work!

thekellytang said...

Wow, that's amazing that she made that at age 15!! And I don't think I would have the patience to create such intricate work! I can't wait to see your quilt!

<3 Kelly

Jessie said...

These are so beautiful! Your grandma is talented for sure! The design is so intricate and charming.

Thanks for stopping by my blog earlier. I hope you will come back soon! :)

P/S: By the way, I am hosting a fab giveaway. Come by and enter for a chance to win a beautiful and personalized necklace courtesy of SimaG Jewelry!

Jessie
www.mixandchic.com

kenzie said...

I love quilts so much, I haven't had the patience to do any hand-piecing, but what a treasure.