Finding Treasures in My Quilt Studio

This summer I have taken a little break from actually sewing and making quilts.  Not because it’s hot or because I’m too busy, but because I am playing with my giant collection of antique and vintage quilt stuff.  I say quilt stuff because my collection has quilts, tops, partial tops, blocks, partial blocks, unfinished projects and blocks, as well as piles and piles of FABRIC!  I am having the most wonderful time and I don’t even have to go anywhere.  Summer Vacation at home!

I started this project in June when my quilt guild president, Kim, mentioned at our meeting that she wished someone would do a program about feedsacks because she just loves them.  That got me  thinking because I knew that I had some feedsack-type stuff hidden in my vintage stash.  So I volunteered to do a presentation on feedsacks for our guild.  Kim was thrilled.  We haven’t discussed a date yet, which is good, because I am still sorting through my stash.  Once I get through my stash of feedsack stuff, I’ll devote a blog post to showing you my goodies.  I had no idea when I volunteered that it was going to be so intensive or as fun.

I think I have delved into 7 or 8 of my crates already and I know I have more to go, including several crates of quilts yet.  It’s funny — I had no idea how much stuff I’ve accumulated over the years.  As I got it, I admired it, washed it (sometimes) and tucked it away lovingly into a plastic storage crate.   Then when the current crate was filled, I bought another crate and the whole process was repeated.  It is so exciting to open up a crate and discover such awesome treasures!

Here are the contents of the most recent crate I opened.  Seriously, ALL this stuff came out of 1 Rubbermaid 18 gallon crate.  It was all so smushed in there — I have no idea how I got it all in there. I found fabric galore, a few quilt top fragments, and even some feedsacks.  Most of it all dated from 1930s-1960s, which just so happens to be one of my very quilting eras!

 

Below are 2 of my favorite fabrics that I discovered in the crate.  Aren't they the cutest?????  I just love little conversational prints.

Isn't the penguin great?  How about a squirrel in pants, the deer in the scarf, or the bunny in a jacket?  Any idea why the puppy is included on this fabric????  Anyone?

Check out these happy little birdies.  Don't you just love them?  They have adorable facial expressions. 

Well, I'd better get back to work because right now I'm up to my waist in fabric!

In a Cleaning Mood -- Destashing Vintage Fabric

As part of my Studio Overhaul, I knew I'd have to address my overabundance of fabric sometime.   Of course, my electricity isn't finished yet and I don't have my new sewing table constructed, but I am still limping along on my project.  I started in January if you'll remember, and now it's the end of June, but hey, who's counting?  As long as I keep moving forward, I feel successful.

So anyway, I decided to tackle some of my accumulation of fabric.  I am going to try to downsize my fabric collection by 33%.   Part of the reason I decided to start now is because I am on the lookout for feedsack fabric for a presentation for my guild sometime in the future.

This time I chose a big heavy crate filled with vintage fabrics and maybe some blocks and who knows what else I hid in there.  I have several such crates in different locations, so it's kind of hard to know exactly what I've got.  Yes, I guess I am a bit of a hoarder, but I do come by it quite naturally.

It was fun opening up the crate to find out what was in there.  I found tons of vintage fabrics and scraps as well as a few aprons and some assorted blocks.   Here's a couple stacks of fabrics out of my crate:

Fun, huh?  There are a lot of different prints and patterns and the fabrics seem to range form the 1930's -- 1970's.

After three or so days, I am still going through the crate.  I have a bag of yardage and scraps that I will be parting with as well as a big bag of precut 2" squares from the 1960's/1970's which I am not that excited about -- I like larger pieces that I can use to repair quilts from the same era.

Today I was sorting through a gallon-sized baggie I had in the crate and was amazed to find a giant stack of arcs which were both hand and machine-pieced.  I'd guess them to be from the 1940's, but there are a lot of 1930's fabrics mixed in.  These arcs are really tiny, see the quarter in the photo.  There must be like 100 of them!  I think they are arcs from a Double Wedding Ring that was started and never finished or else some kind of Fan design.  What are your thoughts on these blocks?

In the bag, there were wedges for Dresden Plate blocks and even some butterfly wings and bodies.  What a fun collection!

A cool thing I discovered was that there were several fabrics in that bag that were the same design, but different colorways.

 I plan to play in my fabrics again tonight. I wonder what I'll find next........