Monday, May 23, 2011

Quilt Turning

 Or is it called a bed turning?  I can never remember.  I finally got most of the guest room cleaned out and thought I'd photograph my older quilts before Nearly Insane.  Since it's going to stay on the bed, I'm doing NI last and leaving it in place.

6-pointed Stars quilt
 The bed belonged, as far back as I know, to my great-great-grandmother Caroline Garrell.  I was told her son, my great-grandfather, was born in this bed in 1862.  
I know when he was born so the year is correct!  I don't know how long she'd had the bed at that time.
He was much older than my great-grandmother whom he married on March 22, 1900. I inherited the bedroom furniture when my great-grandmother died, just before my senior year of 
high school.  I really treasure it and still miss her.  Besides the 3/4 bed (between twin and double in size), I have a Martha Washington table, a wig stand, and a marble-top dresser with jewelry drawers and a mirror.  This was the furniture I used in my room until I got 
married and then my daughters used it when they were big enough.

Now the story of this quilt.  My great-grandparents had three children.  My grandmother was the first, then a year later a boy, and, many years later, another girl, also named Caroline for her grandmother.  This quilt was made for her husband by his mother.  He was born in 1909 but I don't know much else about his family or exactly when the quilt was made.  

From a slightly different angle

The pink print was used in several stars

 This red print is deteriorating in most places it was used

Three of the stars to show fabrics.  There are two background greens here.
Quilting from the back
If any of you can date the fabrics, I'd really appreciate a note.  My great-aunt and uncle were married in the 1930's but I have no idea if he already had the quilt. 


8 comments:

  1. What a wonderful quilt!!! I can't get over how some of the colours are still so vibrant after all these years!!!

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  2. Amazing quilt Mary,
    Even though it's worn in parts, it's lovely to have this quilt to treasure and see how it was done in them days...it looks lovely on the bed.
    Julia ♥

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  3. What a fun post. Great story with the bed, what an heirloom!
    Guessing the fabrics to be 1930's-1940's what is the width of the backing? Is it solid? Seamed with maybe 24? 36? or 44/45 width fabrics?
    Is your table a Martha Washington sewing table? Sounds wonderful.
    Thanks for sharing your treasures!

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  4. What a wonderful quilt and to have the furniture is priceless,It must be so fantastic to have these heirlooms.

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  5. Wonderful to have those heirlooms along with all of the information. The bed is so pretty!!

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  6. How wonderful that you have that bed and have had it so long. Not many people would have treasured it as a young adult. So many would have wanted just new and modern. We did have a bed that one set of my husband's grandparents had. We had it for several years but sold it when my mother moved in with us. We were just out of room in our home. It wasn't that I did not want antique. So it went to someone else to love.

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  7. Hi! Greets from Finland! That quilt is so fantastic! I love it! It's so nice to find other quilters from the other side of the world! :)

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