Out with the New, and In with the Old

I recently came across a sack full of pieced together quilt blocks in an antique shop. The woman at the shop told me that the pieces were found under another quilt top, when they took that quilt apart. Apparently, someone had used the old battered quilt as the batting for a newer quilt.

Anyway, I LOVE these blocks. I'm a sucker for old tattered, soft fabrics, and these charmers were all hand pieced.

So I decided to stabilize each block by hand stitching each one to muslin, turning under the edges as I go. I'm using embroidery floss to stitch them, and I'm letting the wonky edges dictate their final shapes.

















I haven't decided what I'll do with them yet.

I have seven of the antique blocks, all with a six inch square in the middle, and all with fairly similar colors and fabrics.

I do love the embroidered animals that African women do on their textiles (like this one). Maybe if I can find some muted colors, I'll do something similar in the centers of my blocks. Then I'll piece them all together to make a whole quilt top.