Thrifted Summer Quilt
I spent the whole day before Mother's Day hitting thrift stores, quilt and fabric stores, a farmer's market, plant nurseries, and Target....all by myself. It was the best Mother's Day present I could have asked for. Then I was renewed and glad to spend all day Sunday at home with my family.
I found this quilt at my favorite little thrift store that day. We've been using the first quilt I ever made as a beach blanket and it's worn and torn. This is a perfect replacement. Even though it's just squares and is only a tied quilt and some of the squares are poly blends, I know the person who made this put alot of work into it. I hate to put it to such hard use, but the binding is already worn and it was only $8.
I didn't even bother examining it much until getting it home. I'm loving looking at and discovering all the different fabrics used in it. The close-ups are some of my favorite sections. The center squares in the bottom two pictures remind me the tiniest bit of Denyse Schmidt's new Flea Market Fancy fabrics, and why not? Her website states, "The patterns in this collection are inspired by the vintage charm of some of her favorite flea market finds."
I'm looking forward to lazy hours at the beach this summer checking out all the different squares again and again.
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Binding is quite easy if you want to replace/repair it. I even have a tutorial on quilt binding here:
http://smallhand.blogspot.com/2005_10_01_smallhand_archive.html#112844698581206184
I took a walk by myself on my first Mother's Day and got a frozen yogurt, then raced back to my baby girl.
Posted by: A.J. | Wednesday, May 24, 2006 at 03:58 PM
Oh, How lucky you are to have found this beautiful quilt! Such things don't really exist here in France... Enjoy it!
Posted by: fleur | Wednesday, May 24, 2006 at 04:16 PM
Great find! It's so cheerful!
Posted by: Gwendolina | Wednesday, May 24, 2006 at 05:35 PM
A fabulous way to spend $8 - great find!
Posted by: Chris | Wednesday, May 24, 2006 at 06:50 PM
It's like a "I spy" quilt.(:
Posted by: Michelle | Wednesday, May 24, 2006 at 07:57 PM
What a great find! And even better that it's someone who appreciates the work that went into it that ends up with it.
Posted by: Rebecca | Wednesday, May 24, 2006 at 08:27 PM
Great score!
Posted by: Nadia | Wednesday, May 24, 2006 at 09:24 PM
Oh, that is a fabulous find! Someone put a lot of work into that quilt, and I bet she would get a lot of joy out of knowing how much you like it and that you are using it.
Posted by: Jane | Wednesday, May 24, 2006 at 09:43 PM
I love how, in the picture of the whole quilt, the lower left quadrant and the upper right quadrant suggest that the maker was *almost* trying for a pattern of diagonals of the same fabric. But she clearly had too many good ones to make that kind of structure work. I adore the "I Like You America" fabric. What a fun piece. What's the back like?
Posted by: Tona | Thursday, May 25, 2006 at 05:47 AM
It's great!
What a find.
Posted by: blackbird | Thursday, May 25, 2006 at 05:50 AM
A great find! Definitely a fun past time on the beach to check out the sqaures and think of the history of that quilt. Thanks for sharing! :)
Posted by: Lolly | Thursday, May 25, 2006 at 08:01 AM
i absolutley LOVE that quilt! i have one that my great-gramma started (and almost finished) back in the day, all poly blends, a very simple crazy-quilt that makes me smile looking at it.
what a perfect beach-sitting, picnic-eating blankie.
Posted by: shannon | Thursday, May 25, 2006 at 10:00 AM
This quilt is really fun! I love the orange ties--they really make the quilt bright.
Posted by: Melanie | Thursday, May 25, 2006 at 11:52 AM
Amazing! What a great find! I had a thrift quilt like that for years, I'm finally using what few hardy pieces that survived in my own quilts.
Posted by: Rose | Thursday, May 25, 2006 at 07:40 PM
That quilt could not have gone to a better family. You could make some flash cards for the boys to read with names of things to find, such as a dotted giraffe; orange flowers; blue birds; cherries; a pony; a barn, etc. You got excellent value for your money. The time alone for a young Mom is just the best. I can remember those times too!
Posted by: peg | Thursday, May 25, 2006 at 08:40 PM
Oh my God, that is an amazing find! You could honestly look at those squares for hours. Kind of like an original version of the story quilt I did for my kids, where you make up a story that progresses through each square based on what's in the square (a color, flowers, animals, etc).
wowowowowoweeee!
Posted by: Blair | Thursday, May 25, 2006 at 08:49 PM
what a brilliant find!
Posted by: weirdbunny | Friday, May 26, 2006 at 07:34 AM
Oh - such a find that you found!
Posted by: LLA | Friday, May 26, 2006 at 05:21 PM
Oh wow I love it!!! Great thrift store find!
Posted by: Carrie | Friday, May 26, 2006 at 05:53 PM
You are so right, this is fabulous fabric, and a wonderful find. I think I need to be hanging out at my local thrift store more.
You're welcome to come and visit my blog anytime.
Posted by: Shelina | Wednesday, May 31, 2006 at 06:32 AM