Another Yard Sale, another good find...

This week was my aunt and uncle's retirement auction. I went there, hoping to snatch something of value to me. I was not disappointed. I found this oval shaped enamelware dish that used to belong to my Grandmother who passed away years ago. O, was I happy! Since I already collect enamelware, this was precious.

The next thing I looked at buying was an old blanket of some sort, used to put under a mattress or possibly on the floor. It was very heavy and I would have no use for it. The only thing that attracted me to it was the fabric cover which looked very vintage. I walked away and later came back and it was still there! My aunt saw me fingering it and said, "That is made of feed sacks". I asked what was in the inside, because I had some sort of hunch it might be valuable to me, and she said an old quilt. That did it! I picked it up and was very happy to pay 5 Bze for it. I couldn't wait to rip open the cover to find out just what was hidden inside. I wondered, if the outside cover is made of old sacks long ago, then how old is the quilt that's inside???

This was the outside cover. I want to open the seams so I can use the pieces individually.

 
 This was on the inside. A stitched together heavy piece of quilt...or as I would discover, quilts!

 

After removing the cover I undid the stitches that held together the inside piece. As I opened it, I discovered layer upon layer of an old quilt made with colorful fabric pieces. To my glad surprise, not just one quilt was used, but another one that looked even older, and another piece of something with an interesting shape that I do not know what it would have been used for!

 This baffles my mind. What do you think it could have been used for??? I will be sure to try and find out...

The nicest quilt. Ain't she a beauty? A shame to cover it up for so many years, but on the other hand, good for me as this way it stayed preserved to a certain extent. I will try to fix the damage of the cut off strip somehow which you cannot see in the photo. Some blocks are quite torn but most are intact. I think I even see fabric in it that could have my mother's dresses when she was young, as she has saved up a small square of every piece of fabric that was ever used to sew her a dress when she was a girl.  How neat is that! She even wrote down what year the dresses were made, so I can see how many she got in one year. Not all that many, and many were made from feed sacks...The good old days that we know so little about. How times have changed!

 A few blocks from up close.

Wow, wow, wow.

Here is the next quilt, the older looking one. It had been patched over in the worst places which I tore off because I wanted to see the quilt in its entirety. This one is worn worse than the other one, so I might just cut some patterns from around the outside and make myself a small quilt or wallhanging out of it. First, I want to know the history before I go ahead and do something like that though.

 here are some closeups of the blocks used on the quilt. Very neat.

 This would have made a gorgeous dress for any little girl. It is my favorite color in this quilt.

I considered myself very lucky. It was well worth 5 dollars to me! The only sad part is the quilts have both been cut to fit into the cover, so now I need to find a way to restore old quilts. I have been thinking about gluing the pieces together, or sewing them together; I am not sure which I will decide to do.

I plan to make another visit to my aunt. My guess is she will be very surprised to see all the old pieces. I have so many questions to ask. Hopefully her memory floodgate will open wide!

Who made the quilts?

Who used them?

Are they all made of feed sack fabric or other fabric?

Would my Grandmother or even my Great-grandmother have used any of the fabrics?

Were they wedding gifts or other special gifts?

I wonder if the women that quilted these quilts came together with horse and buggies for the quilting? These old quilts would have so many stories to tell if they could talk, and I hope to be able to get a hold of some of them before they are lost.

Here is the update!!!