Grandma's quilt repair/restore

Here is a picture of my grandma's quilt from the 30's - it was in pretty sad shape when I got it - very stained and LOTS of blocks that had disintegrated. The above pic is after I replaced about 30 blocks - in all, I replaced about 90 blocks and a few pieces of the cotton batting, then soaked it in OxyClean and then laundered it (at the laundromat so as not not use a machine with an agitator). It came out AMAZING! I am very happy with it. There were a few more blocks that fell apart in the wash, but overall it's great! It now resides on Grandma's chair in my living room so I can always admire it. It is 100% hand pieced and hand quilted.


I had quite a bit of material left from the fat quarters I bought to repair grandma's quilt that I decided to do a dresden plate - I am using this as a ''doily'' on the quilt at the back of the chair. I completely hand pieced this block. I like it so much, I decided to hand piece my own dresden plate quilt. It will be partially dresden plates and partially ''postage stamp'' blocks to use up the scraps from the repaired antique quilt. I am going to hand piece and maybe I will have the courage to hand quilt it as well. This is nice relaxing work to do on the couch in the evening when it's too late to be running the sewing machine.