Sunday, May 11, 2014

Leona's Quilts

Hi.  For regular readers of my blog, in March, my cousin, Liz, asked me to meet her.  She gave me a 1934 Singer class 15 machine (with the Royal Air Force decal set) in a cabinet, and bags of fabric, and asked me to finish some quilts her mother-in-law, Leona, had started.  Leona had a fabric store on Long Island, and taught quilting.  She had been in a nursing home for about 6 years before she passed away last August.  I finished this top for Liz last year.   The machine and fabric were from Leona's estate.

Two of the quilts Liz wanted finished were for her nieces.  I'm assuming they were started when the girls were young, and they are now 18 and 25, which dates both quilts to the 1990's.  Both are shades of peach. One has accents of blue, and the other has brown.  Liz said Leona loved Quilt In A Day.  The smaller one is a Log Cabin, and the larger has a center that is Lover's Knot, although it's set on point with large triangle pieces for corners.  Both have a heavy poplin type backing, and were machine quilted over polyester batting.  The quilting looks like the basic quilting you would find on comforters from that era.  Since peach and mauve are not "in" right now, it took a little bit of work to locate fabric for the binding.  I do have a large stash, but finding the best shades took looking in stores, then I resorted to my oldest shelf of fabric, the one I forgot about.  I actually found a fabric that dates to that time.  It's the same print in a blue/grey quilt Liz also wants finished.  That one needs some repair work, though.  Once I have the seams stitched, I'll back that and quilt it.

Anyway, on to these two.

This measures about 52 by 82".  


The binding here is the vintage fabric, and it does coordinate, color wise, with the darkest print on this Log Cabin.  

This is the Lover's Knot.  The binding isn't on in this photo, yet, but I found a peach in the right shade, but with a cream floral design, for the binding.  It's attached in the last photo.  This measures about 82" square.  



I'm pleased with the binding on both quilts, and glad I have them finished.  I left room on the labels for Liz to add more info, if she wants.  I have some other tops to finish for Leona, as well.  One was for Liz's son, who now has his first child, beautiful Tillie.  That one is also a log cabin, but is hand pieced, "quilt as you go" style.  I have to attach another row, and bind the quilt.  It's fun to see what Leona had made, and be able to finish it for her family.  I'm honored that Liz asked me.

1 comment:

DownHome Designs said...

ME, these turned out so pretty! How fun it must be working with these quilt tops made by Leona.