Grandmother's Garden Postage Stamp Quilt - The Project of Four Generations - Finished At Last!

Dear Blogging Friends,

It's been a long time since I posted, but today is such a special day, I just had to share it with you!  Yesterday I made the last quilting stitch on a quilt I've shared with you several times in the last eight years. I am celebrating! :)

Ten years ago, my dear grandmother, Dola, passed away. In her cedar chest, I found a vintage quilt top made of flour sacks.

 After much discussion with my Aunt (Grandma's daughter-in-law), we realized that it was Dola's mother, Grandma Pherigo, who must have pieced it.  There is no doubt that the fabric is old flour sacks. It is far too aged and retro in style to be anything else.

Grandma Wood was not a big 'quilter' though she quilted as well as most women do. However, according to my Aunt Joan, Grandma Pherigo was an avid quilter.  So the mystery of who pieced this exquisite quilt was finally solved just last month!  I felt incredibly honored to be the one to add the border and hand-quilt this family treasure.

Quilts like this are very unusual and quite rare. They are called postage stamp quilts because every piece was no bigger than a postage stamp. I'm sure you can tell these pieces are even smaller than that. Each hexagon is made of six tiny triangles!

I'm certain this quilt was meant to be her 'masterpiece' quilt.  Women often worked hard in a spirit of friendly competition to make a quilt with as many pieces as possible.  I've yet to see a quilt anywhere with this many pieces --around 7,000+ or to see them pieced, by hand, so accurately.

I was extremely busy homeschooling 5 kids at the time of my Grandmother's passing, but I agreed to quilt this for my Aunt so it would be quilted by someone 'in the family' but warned her it could take awhile. Yipes--it took ten years!

Year after year, I've quilted--bit by bit--and finally it is done! I'm meeting my Aunt on her way to her sister's home to hand it off to her. All I have to do is make the signature block telling the story of this special quilt to hand-applique to the back.

I used the needle-turn applique method to stitch the delicate top to a muslin border to attempt to square it up a bit since it came out a bit wider on one end than on the other.  For the border, I decided to make my own template and carry out the flower garden pattern I'd been quilting over and over since it only showed on the back.

My Aunt promised that she will leave it to me one day but I'm happy to hand off this treasure to her tomorrow.

What a blessing it was to find out she had ordered me a sewing machine that has quilting and piecing stitches and a long quilting plate as a 'thank you' for my years of labor! I can even do free-motion quilting with it!  I can't wait to share all the fun I've been having with my new machine with you. :) PS. It's a great price too!

If you've never quilted, don't be afraid to start! I learned at my local quilt store and the six weeks of lessons I took were worth every penny!  In case you are interested, here's the book I'm sending to my daughter to help her learn to quilt too. Your First Quilt Book (or it should be!) 

Remember~You're never too old to learn something new!

Hope your day is special and that you are inspired to try quilting some day too.

Happy Homemaking!
Donna