Passing Down a Quilt Legacy

Many moons ago after I had learned how to sew, had sewn my own clothes, tried my hand at a variety of crafts, and I was out on my own, I came across a quilt my mom had started when I was just a kid (which was even more moons prior to my many moons).  I wanted her to show me how to make a quilt. Little did I realize at the time that she would be passing down a legacy.

The Quilt Beginning

She had found a pattern, purchased fabric, cut pieces and started hand piecing it probably in the 1980s. It was continental blue and mauve with a touch of off-white.  They were roughly 14” squares using a star pattern for some of the blocks.

And then it sat for many, many years. When we came across it in my late 30s, her eyes lit up with the enthusiasm that she must have had when she started it all those years ago.  She lamented about finishing it “one day”, and would putter around with it here and there.

One day, I asked if she would show me how to make a quilt by hand — hand pieced, hand quilted, the whole shebang.  I suggested using her unfinished quilt as our project.  I figured she could be my guide AND we would get her quilt finished.  A win-win!

Joining Forces

She agreed and so we set to work getting it out and figuring out what was already done and what was still left. She showed me how to do some of the hand piecing, and so we divvied up the remaining squares and got to work on finishing them.  Once the squares were done, Mom pieced the blocks together into a top, sewed on a few cornerstones, and a few borders (all based on the pattern instructions).

At this point we had the quilt top finished. Now it was time to sandwich and find a backing. I think Mom was planning on using a sheet or some other budget-conscious backing for the quilt, so she hadn’t purchased anything back in the 1980s.

She initially found a cheap cotton fabric that really didn’t look that great with the quilt, but it was cheap and we figured who’s going to see the back side anyway. So we squared up the top, put in some warm and natural batting, and attached the not-so-pretty backing. At that point, Mom was going to hand quilt it.  But again, life got in the way and the quilt sat for several years. 

In the meantime, I had caught the quilting bug — let me just say there aren’t many craft bugs I’m immune to! I set out cutting up mine and piecing it together.  Mom even helped me!

Fast forward to several years go by, my quilt also joins the UFO Club (UnFinished Objects), and I have a quilt fabric collection to rival any quilt shop worth it’s weight.

My parents begin downsizing and we come across her quilt, again.

Pretty Backing Fabric

At this point, I’d love to change the backing to something that matches a little better.  And I get the crazy idea to finish it for her.  So I offered.  And slowly she came around to letting me take it home, finish it, and bring it back to her.

She had mentioned more than once that she had never taken a liking to the backing fabric, but since she had already started hand quilting it, it was probably too late to do anything about it.  I, too, was not a fan of the backing.  I took a look at the amount of hand quilting that had been done and realized it was no more than a block’s worth.  Well, guess what, I know how to use a seam ripper.  With her blessing, I removed the hand quilting, de-sandwiched the quilt which involved de-basting it too, and went on the search for some “vintage” 1980s fabric.  This was going on around 2016-2017.

How do you match quilt fabric from 1980?

Do you know how difficult it is to find fabric to match 1980s prints?!?!  Holy cow!  I figured a solid would be easy enough. Nope. I really wanted some sort of floral. Nope. Everything was bright and cheery, or too modern. Nope. Nope. And nope.  I wanted something vintage-cheery, but that’s just not it’s own section at the fabric store.

I eventually came across a series of fabrics at Joanns that had a more vintage look to them.  Colors that were gorgeous, just nothing in the hue I wanted.  And then, THERE IT WAS! A white and pink floral print in the vintage section.  It reminded me of a tea rose print.  Now, how much was on the bolt.  You guessed it, not enough!

Since the fabric was only 45” wide, I would need to piece the back….something I don’t particularly enjoy doing, but what needs to be done needs to be done.  I searched for something complimentary. The tea rose print was off-white with pink and green flowers, small-medium print.  I shopped multiple stores trying to find more of it, but alas, it was not meant to be.

I then found another pink fabric with a smallish floral print that would compliment it.  Not my first pick, but a close second.

I brought it home, measured, and measured, and measured some more.  I cut and pieced and re-sandwiched, and re-basted the whole thing back together. The backing was going to look awesome!

Hand Quilting

And then the hand quilting began.  I followed the framework Mom had already started of stitching the perimeter of the blocks and once I made it to one of the solid colored borders, I decided to mix it up!  I hadn’t hand quilted a design before, but I was certain that’s what I wanted to do, since it would show up so well on the solid mauve.

I started out with some crazy detailed ideas, and eventually convinced myself to go with a simple diamond pattern.  I pulled out the chalk pencil and ruler, marked ‘er all up and quilted that too.

The binding went together pretty well, though while I was videoing how I was doing it, I actually poked myself with the needle — I can’t even plan good stuff like that!?

Dedication Square

I had it in my head that I wanted to do a dedication square with both of our names on it. And so learned how to do that too.

A Quilt Legacy

This quilt will be something I will never forget. The fact that my mom and I got to work on it TOGETHER meant the world to me.  It was a beautiful journey of her starting it in her younger days, the two of us piecing it together, and me finishing off the hand quilting.  The day I gave it back to her was priceless. I get goosebumps just thinking about it.

Funny, she was worried it wouldn’t look right with the 1980s colors.  I assured her any colors would turn out wonderfully, and boy was that the case.  That quilt is gorgeous, and I have my mom to thank.

Have you worked on a project with your mom or dad? How did it go? What did you create? Did it turn into a legacy? Drop it in the comments below.