A vintage 1930s quilt top comes to life

I have recently been buying vintage   quilt tops on Ebay and this is a beauty from the USA, dating from the 1930's. It is a hand pieced pinwheel design with  a lot of the bubblegum pink which was popular then. I had to replace a few patches as there was a very fragile blue print  where the dye had eaten the fabric away, and another blue print with stains on it. the stains had been there prior to piecing and  some of the brown stain had eaten the fabric away. The piecing stitches were tiny and I had trouble replicating them. I chose some vintage fabric from my stash to replace the damaged pieces.

The background cream fabric was a very fine muslin which was  translucent. The whole quilt top was so fragile  I couldn't stretch it on my home quilting frame so had to  stitch in the ditch after  layering with batting and backing, then once stabilised  it wasthen possible to stretch it on my frame and machine quilt  it.  An all over stippling pattern looked the best.

I managed to find an exact match of plain pink homespun to bind the quilt.

Altogether a fascinating process.  I could almost feel the hand of the original quilter.  The finished   quilt  has  a happiness  and charm about it with the bright summery colours.

geranium artwork

this fibre art work is geranium flowers, background created with layers  of green and brown fabric, petals stiffened with stabiliser and needle-turn applique, and   then embellished with machine embroidery, hand embroidery and beading.   Tulle was layered over the picture and it was then hand quilted onto a hand-dyed background fabric.

duck embroidery

 Here is my work in progress,  a scene from our property with nesting duck.
Hopefully it will be completed soon!
Shauna.