Grandma Quilts

 My Grandma Autrey was a quilter extraordinaire!  Even now, my Dad still claims she is quilting away. (Go figure--Grandma would be 126 years old by now. . . and Dad does have a bit of dementia.)  Other than her biscuits, which I loved, and crossword puzzles (which she loved), quilting was her "thing."  Well, that's not true. She also crocheted. And kept a garden. Never drove. (I'm not exactly sure on that one. . .perhaps she did drive earlier in life).  She kept chickens, grew pecans, had a chamber pot under her bed (!) and spent a lot of time in her older years in her rocking chair.  Grooves in the hardwood floor attest to that.

The quilting frame she had was the kind that could sit up against a wall and the ends rolled onto a frame, kind of into an "L" shape. Grandma was very good about keeping the scraps she was given very organized.  If my mom, Marilyn Autrey, sent scraps from sewing projects she'd made, Grandma kept those separate from scraps that Aunt Flo or anyone else might have sent her. That meant, generally, when Grandma got around to piecing a quilt, she used pieces of fabric that were part of OUR lives. My old favorite dress, the doll blanket I had for years that Mom made me and that I still have!, Mom's favorite shift, our kitchen curtains, etc.  They all became a part of that pieced quilt top. 

Sadly, not many of the quilts she made still survive in our family. When she gave them to us, they were used, and used well.  I took one with me to college and wore it out. Its only surviving pieces are in the form of my kids' Christmas stockings I manufactured from the remaining parts of the quilt.

However, there are many quilt BLOCKS that remain!  My mother kept them in her cedar chest for years, hoping that in her retirement and twilight years she would be able to complete the quilts.  She hasn't. So when my folks downsized through the years, she passed on her cedar chest, along with the quilt blocks that Grandma Autrey made -- to me!  I couldn't be more thrilled.

Some of the blocks were already made into a nearly-completed quilt top and that one was completed by my daughter-in-law, Kaylee Liebhardt. She has access to a machine quilter and did a great job quilting and binding one of them. It's in my "quilt cabinet" (AKA gun case).

The rest are still in the form of blocks, awaiting their turn to become an heirloom quilt.

I had the opportunity this week of starting to work on one of them. The ones I started with were very unusual. They are very bold colors and thick, because they are made of two layers of fabric, not just one. The piece-work was done in a form of "tube quilting."  Or something like that.  What that means to is that the back of the quilt is almost as interesting as the front!

 But first, here are some of the blocks that we have from Grandma Autrey (Agnes Johanna Wetz, 1885-1978)

A nine-patch pile of blocks, above. All lightweight cotton fabrics and very soft colors, for the most part.

This is a star pattern, above. All of the centers are a black pattern print. All are lightweight cotton.

This is another star pattern of a different kind. I 'm not sure of the name. But again, lightweight and cotton.

THIS (above) is what I worked on this week. I didn't add any sashing, but just sewed the four-square blocks together. The photo above was taken before I'd finished piecing all of them, so a lot of them are just laying on the carpet. But one can see how bold the colors are! Nothing pastel, soft, or lightweight about this. 

This is a photo (above) of the back side of the pieces after I sewed them all together. This is the part that is as interesting as the front. The back has been made from all kinds of things:  Old house dresses or aprons, a work shirt, a sack holding a Virginia ham, feed sacks, old white cotton sheets, embroidered pillow cases or doilies. It was amazing to see how well-used the items were. Pockets had been removed from shirts. There are a variety of fabrics, but mostly sturdy cottons that would hold their shape as other fabrics were stitched to them.

Above, even one of the house dresses or shirts had been MENDED. There's a pathched hole in this one. Remember, this is the back-side of the quilt squares.

I think this one looks like a house dress I remember Grandma wearing. Or it could have been a man's shirt or cotton pajamas.

Above: These clearly look and feel like feed sacks to me. We had lots of these. This is the "wrong" side of the fabric, so she pieced the upper part of the quilt square on top of the right side. But it didn't matter, because it's not going to be seen by anyone but me.

Above: Here is a piece of cotton Ham bag. Another square has a bit of cooking instructions for the ham.

Above: This blue plaid looks like one of my Dad's shirts.  Or any mans' shirt from the 60's. Or 50's.

And in the spirit of "Use it up, Wear it Out, Make it Do, or Do Without," I sewed some of these blocks together using cotton thread, well-preserved and sturdy still, but from a WOODEN spool. Do you know how long it's been since thread was sold on wooden spools?  A long time. I've had this spool of thread a very long time.

ABOVE and BELOW:  These coursely-woven cotton/rayon-type blend in different pinks reminded me of Jackie Kennedy's pink suit with pill box hat. That was the time frame and I'm sure these pieces were from a woman's suit. Maybe Grandma's, maybe not. There were also woolen fabrics that were most likely suit material.

Above is an example of how the individual 6 inch squares (7 inches before being pieced) were put together layer upon layer on top of that under piece to hold it all.

And SOME of the 4-Squares were ALL pieced into a pin-wheel kind of pattern. I tried to keep those alternated in the center of the quilt.

I found of backing in my fabric stash that is actually some Coleman Fabric.  Coleman Co. had a sleeping bag and tent manufacturing place in Cedar City for many years. They would let folks come and pick through the left-over "ends" of fabrics, the rejects, extras, etc. for free. Many a fabric collection in Cedar City was founded on Coleman fabric from years gone by.  Well, my mother-in-law happened to have a lot of back and white hounds tooth check flannel fabric that I'll be using for the back of this quilt. I've pieced it together (the back), the top is all done and pressed, I've purchased a lightweight batting. Now all I need to to is get some quilting frames and yarn. It does seem a bit un-true to NOT hand quilt something of Grandma's, since that's all I ever knew her to do with her quilts. This one will be tied, however, with yarn. It appears to me to be more of a "rough and tumble" kind of quilt or blanket, rather than an delicate one.  (However, some of those fabrics may prove to be more delicate than they look). Wish me luck!  I'll add the photo if and when it's ever completed. ;-)