A Neighbor Told a Neighbor

A neighbor told a neighbor I quilted.

While I was out raking leaves the neighbor who heard I was a quilter stopped to talk with me while they were out for a walk. His name is Dan (abt 65) and his mother’s name is Velma (abt 85). Dan told me they had a chest full of fabric and some old quilt squares that belonged to his grandmother, Velma’s mother. If I would like them, they were mine or they would be going to our local recycle store.

A few days later with the neighbor who told Dan and Velma I quilt; I call her Poodle Nancy because she shows champion Poodles and yes you might have even seen her in a nationally telecast dog show or two) we went over to their home to see the ‘fabrics and quilt squares’

What was neglected in the original invitation was that everything was in an old chest full of moth balls ~ oh goodness ~ I kid you not, I thought I would pass out from the fumes. My initial reaction was the material was ruined, unsalvageable but how could I possibly pass out this gold mine of fabric?

Ok – it did not look like this or smell as amazing as it does now. This has all been washed in vinegar and baking soda, laundry detergent – at least half a dozen times.

Now ironed, and folded and ready to go it has all been salvaged!

Next came the quilt squares ~ log cabin patterned, pre quilted squares in brown and soft orange fabrics

I was really nervous about washing them but in the washer they went, two, three, four washes. I thought for sure they would fall apart but look at them…gorgeous.

The oddest thing with these though is they are hand quilted already, pre sewn and fiber filled to the backing, I have never seen this done. Have you?

At first I tried ripping out the stitching but to do this would mean actually dismantling every square and starting from scratch. I did not want to do that. I took the risk and thankfully they came out in perfect shape. I am going to do a small lap quilt for Velma of her mothers quilt squares. I am not really sure however if they really are her mother’s or something Velma did years prior but I will get to the bottom of this at a later date and let you know. In the meantime what I do know is Velma loved that I offered to finish this for her.

I’ll be using this brown pin striped & brown flower print material to frame in the squares  (I got from Velma) I am pretty sure I have amble amount of the peach floral of the last log above to use for the backing. The tricky part for me is the fact that the squares are already pre quilted and I will be adding the framing.  I’ll add another layer of fiber filler and then hand quilt 9 blocks for this lap quilt. I don’t know any other way to do it.

BUT

While Dan and Velma rummaged through the chest Dan pulled out something they had totally forgotten about. This actually not only took my breath literally way but it took me to a whole other spiritual quilt dazed level.

An old and tattered, faded and torn quilt most definitely done by Velma’s mother. This had to be at least 100 years old from the conversation I was listening too.

This quilt was going into the trash but not before I salvaged the only 2 squares that could be saved.

I have taken the two squares to be framed behind glass. I choose this beautiful frame and I think they are going to be stunning for gift giving this holiday for Velma and Dan. I will keep one for myself but give them choice of either one. (once separated from the quilt and out in the air for a few days and once under glass, the moth ball odor should be ok..it wasn’t to bad)

red tone frame

brown tone frame