I swear, one day soon I will get some photos taken and have things to post about! Until then, I’ll share another vintage quilt with you, from the “flooded house” collection. This one is a little sad as it has been literally loved and worn to shreds. But there is still some beauty there, and one or two blocks I can salvage into pillows:
I am really into “string quilts” these days, and am working with my scraps to create some of my own. I like the simple “X-block” setting of this scrappy string quilt.
It’s difficult to date this one, but I’m guessing early 20th century, quite obviously a utility quilt…
You can see a lot of the fabrics are almost completely disintegrated…
But the colors must have really been vibrant when it was new! It appears to be made from clothing scraps, lots of plaids and stripes, and all sorts of colors.
I’ll be back soon to post about some of the projects I’ve been working on and completing. I joined Jacquie’s Spring to Finish challenge for the month of April…
Just the extra boost I need to get some UFOs done!
Category Archives: Vintage View
Vintage View: Scrappy Strips
This is another one of the vintage quilts in my collection, it came from the collection that was gifted to me following the Iowa Floods of 2008. 
These photos are not great, by any means, so I hope you can see the vibrant colors, bold prints and cheerfulness of this quilt, despite the less-than-spectacular photography.
I’m guessing most of the prints are 1950s and early 1960s (one has a visible selvege dated 1955).
I love the castle print (the red and green print at the center of the block above). The footprint print below is the one dated 1955.
There are fabric tears, but much of it is in really good condition. I’ve removed all of the “tie quilting” and am in the process of salvaging what fabric I can. In some cases, I can salvage entire blocks. Most of the red floral sashing is still good and can be upcycled into something else.
Isn’t that bold geometric print up there awesome?! And here’s a few more great shots of the castle print, complete with Lord and Lady…
and Carriages!
I wish I could salvage the entire quilt as it is, but there is damage to the back, and the sashing is torn in half at one point. Stay tuned to see what I turn these fabulous blocks into!
Vintage View: Nine Patch
Here are two more treasures, from this bunch of vintage quilts. This is a very sharp looking nine-patch, all blues and indigos against a tan ground.
As you can see, there are some un-salvageable blocks on this one, just like the first two I showed. It is meticulously hand quilted, probably a twin size, or large lap quilt size, originally. I think I could probably salvage at least a crib size quilt out of it…
This one is merely a scrap of what was once a larger, probably full bed size quilt. It’s pretty scrappy, except that the sashing and cornerstones are all the same (and in remarkably great shape )
Somebody apparently just chopped it in half at some point, maybe it was bought as a “cutter” and used for crafts. I may get some pillows out of the blocks, and repurpose the sashing and cornerstone fabrics. 
Even though it’s already chopped up, it still hurts me when I cut into these! How do y’all feel about using quilts as cutter quilts?
Des Moines: Quilt Capitol
Okay. Okay. I know Paducah is really Quilt City USA, or “the Quilt Caiptol” but I tell you what, folks, we do it up right here in Iowa. The entire city took it to heart when the American Quilter’s Society agreed to bring their Expo here this October. Our State Historical Museum had a special exhibit, our Botanical Center had an exhibit, there was the Quilt Walk, art galleries with art quilt exhibits, and quilt happenings all over town. Some of them are still going on, and I hope to take them in yet this week. I did get a chance to see the quilt exhibit at Living History Farms last week. They do one every October, and this year, it coincided with the AQS Expo. 
LHF is a living history site that includes a recreated fictional 1875 town, Walnut Hill, Iowa, a 1700 Iowa Indian Farm, an 1850 Pioneer Farm, and a 1900 Farm. It is built on the original estate of the Flynn family…their 1875 Italianate style mansion and barn still stand on the site…
There are 360 vintage quilts in the museum collection, every October they bring 30 of the quilts out to display in the Walnut Hill Church…at the East end of town…
I first visited LHF on a field trip in the 6th grade. I remember that day like it was yesterday, this place left an indelible mark on me. I really enjoy the drug store, complete with mortar and pestle in the compounding area, where the duggist would mix your prescription. I remember when I was twelve, being amazed by the container of live leeches on the counter. I checked. They still have a glass container of live leeches on the counter in 2008. Just like they would have had in 1875…
The interpreters speak in first person (they take on a character and introduce you to their shops and homes as they would if they really were that character) This gal is coming back to work at the newspaper after taking a lunch break with her lunch basket in hand…
The printing presses are amazing, you can print your own souvenir here and try out the press…
There is also a milliner’s shop where she was sewing this ruffled trim with her New Home treadle machine…
a doctor’s office, attorney’s office, Post Office, bank, one-room school, livery stable, general store (where you can actually but reproduction fabric!), a carpentry/undertaker’s shop, and the homes and barns. Oh the homes. The Tangen Farm House is my favorite…
Isn’t it gorgeous? There were reproduction quilts (exact replicas of some of the vintage quilts in the collection) displayed all over the houses. I love this pomegranate applique quilt…
Way too many photos to share, and this post is already getting too long…so I will share some of the shots from inside the church of the thirty vintage quilts they displayed this year. This lovely Marie Webster original…STUNNING…
A crazy quilt with very unique appliques, embroidery motifs, and fabric combinations…this one will have it’s own post one day soon…
LHF sells some of their quilt patterns, meaning patterns they developed from quilts in there collection. I bought the pattern for this windblown flowers quilt on the left.
The quilt on the right side of that photo was made by Lydia Wood, the maiden aunt of Grant Wood. The name of Grant’s sister, Nan Wood is printed in the bottom right corner with the date it was given to her by her aunt, Lydia.
This green and red quilt has never been laundered…not ever in it’s more than 150 year life. Probably never used, either. How do they know? Because the green dye is vibrant and bold, and green dyes from that time period faded immediately upon washing.
This was a fun charm quilt…
with just one special, fussy cut hexagon…makes you wonder, doesn’t it? Why just one? Why on the left side, not at the center?
and a lovely Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt, with the printed feed sack visible on the backside…
I am so enjoying my quilt tour of Des Moines…and looking forward to next October already!
Quilt Walk
A week ago tonight, my sweetie and I went down to Valley Junction, to join the throngs of visiting quilters and curious local folk for the 1st Annual Quilt Walk. Valley Junction is the original “main street” of West Des Moines, IA, which now a large suburb of Des Moines. The town was originally named Valley Junction, being an important railroad stop in the middle of Iowa. Today, it is renovated and thriving as a touristy (and loved by many locals) old down-town distrtict with antique shops, galleries, two quilt shops, many restaurants and cafes, a great Farmer’s Market, live music weekly in the summer and so much more! About 85% of the businesses participated by displaying a quilt in their window or store, most of them vintage. Pardon the photos, I’m still figuring out the nighttime feature on my new camera! Love that one up above!
A few great 30’s quilts…and this great little crib quilt with stamped animlas:
Isn’t that the sweetest?! This was a large display in one of the antique shops…not bad prices on them either…
I absolutely fell head-over-heals for this stunner:
Simple, but gorgeous! One of the antique shops had this rocker, I’d never seen anything like it before:
It’s called a “mammy bench” and was a rocker with a seat for the mother or nanny-type, and a cradle for the babe all wrapped into one neat little package! If I had an extra $1200 laying around, this would be sitting in my home!
Parting Pic: The window of my favorite antique store, all decked out for the season:
Don’t you think every town should have a Quilt Walk?
Vintage View #1
I have been gifted a collection of well-loved, well-used, well-worn vintage quilts as a result of a house clearing that took place following the Iowa Floods of 2008. The homeowner was going to toss these treasures…I couldn’t have that…so I took them. I have a small, meager collection of vintage quilts of my own (all in very good to excellent condition), to see a quilt in the condition of some of these, breaks my heart. I posted about the first one here.
Here is #2:
A once lovely yellow, blue and very pale pink (now almost white) Irish Chain style quilt. It once had pink Prairie Point edges, but there are only shreds of triangular fabric left.
This is truly one of the softest quilts I have ever held…no wonder it was loved within an inch of it’s life!
Way too great to end up in a landfill! EEK!
made by a brunnette 