What's Been Keeping Me Busy...

This baby has lived on my dining room table for months now.  I've been repairing her for a customer off and on between other projects ~ I had to do it that way to keep it affordable for the customer, and to keep my sanity :)

The old girl needed lots of work.  Where it had been folded in storage is very evident.  Take that as a lesson for anyone with quilts in storage ~ make sure the folds are "soft" and not sharp folds by making rolls using wadded up archival tissue paper* and placing them inside the folds of the quilt...and rotate the quilt every now and then: Take it out of it's storage box, let it spread out on a bed for a while and "breath", and then when you are ready to re-store it make sure the folds fall on different areas of the quilt. 

*Also, fold rolls can be made by cutting a foam pool noodle (floating device) to the lengths that you want, and wrapping them with archival tissue paper or batting and placing them in the folds of the stored quilt.

...And it's a good idea to make a "pillow case" for the quilt out of muslin to protect the outsides of the quilt.  At the very least, use scrap batting to lay between the quilt and the vessel it's being stored in. 
 ...Ok, I'll hop off the soap box now :)

Some of the damage on this quilt is just from really thinning fabric.  Some areas are just shredding.

Since all of the fabrics are so thin, it was decided that I would try to preserve the quilt by adding tulle netting over the worst areas to minimize future tearing.  But first I hand stitched some stabilizing stitches on the torn areas.  (You can click on the pictures to get a better view of what I'm talking about.)

Then, where I could I appliqued new fabrics over patches that were completely gone.  (All of my work is "removable" and the original quilt wasn't permanently altered to maintain any value it may have as an antique heirloom.) 

So after (probably millions of) stabilizing stitches, replacing missing patches in the rings, and applying tulle netting over the major damaged areas, and around all the edges she is finally ready to head home to her owner.  Even though she has some wear, I think she's still sweet :)

Then I shifted gears and spent some time this week quilting this little Chirstmasy wall hanging for a customer.

This one was a quick, short and sweet project :)   I love the colors in this one ~ it's put me right in the Christmas spirit, so I think I'll take some time today to "deck some halls" at the Stewart house :)

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

New Life for an Old Girl

In between other projects I've been working on patching up this Old Girl.  This is an example of one of the blocks where the fabrics have torn away.  Searching all the local stores trying to match the old fabrics has been quite an adventure.  Notice that the "batting" was an old blanket ~ I love that!

So here is the block all patched up.  My new fabrics added on top are not exact matches.  The little check is a bit lighter, and I couldn't find any plaids like the ones in the quilt, but I did find a shirt at Goodwill that had the same colors and feel.  I think it'll work since the over all quilt is very scrappy, and just a little wonky.  At least my patching will give her new life.  I'll show you the whole quilt when I have her all finished :)

And for the winner of my quilt book give away...Random.org gave me #2 ~ Pamela!  

Pamela said...

"I may have made a Resolution not to BUY any new books, but never said anything about winning them, right?" Yea for winning them!!  Pam I'll be emailing you for your address :) Enjoy the day! ~ Dawn

Repairing the Past

Take a cool old patchwork quilt like this one...

...and let Rover have at it, and this is what you get.

There were small holes on the back that didn't go all the way through too.

So I was commissioned to do a little first aid.  I added some thin batting, and then patched up the back.  (The quilter of this old quilt had used an old blanket as the batting.) 

Then after patching up the back of the big hole, I added some batting, found similar fabrics (that I pre-washed), and appliqued patches over the front hole.  I added two patches to the front to cover that big hole.  It's important to maintain the integrity of the vintage quilt to make sure any repairs I make don't alter the quilt indefinitely.  (Anything I do could be removed and the the quilt would still be in completely original form.) 

Now she has been reinvigorated, and is all ready to warm a few more generations ~ I love my job :)

Enjoy the day!

~ Dawn

Sometimes a Little TLC Is In Order

There are times when we all feel like we are coming apart at the seams ~ when a little TLC is in order to get us back to where we need to be.

This little gal was feeling a little rough around the edges and feeling her age...

...Like she was just falling apart ~ after the February I had, I can relate.

So without taking away too many of her original stitches, it was my pleasure to work on her this month,

to repair the loose seams, and add blanket stitching to stabilize the edges of her dress.

It's been good therapy this month to spend time working on repairing some antique quilts for a friend of mine. There are two more that I'll be working on ~ I'll keep you posted on their progress and show the entire quilts soon :)

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn