BUCKET LIST QUILT # 4

As I try to de-stash a bit, I am pulling fabrics for about a dozen "BUCKET LIST QUILTS".  Those I still want to make. Here is the next one, Pieces of the Past in Purple. 

PIECES OF THE PAST--CIRCA 1875:

I have written about this quilt several times. To read the whole story go here: MY FAVORITE QUILTS #1  It is a reproduction of an antique top I found at a yard sale in 1988. The top was later determined by a well-known quilt historian to be from approximately 1875, hence the name, 

As a baby quilter then I thought I would hand quilt it. After studying it for a while, it was clear the fragile fabrics would not stand up to that so I reproduced it. Following the antique top, I used my least favorite color, BROWN. The quilt took all the skills I had at that time--those four-patches are "set-in", on the diagonal. Not easy by machine.

As much as I loved this quilt I knew no one would want to make it, the construction was just too difficult. So I made it again, easier this time, by replacing the four-patches with a square and adding more geese to create regular sashing that could be machine pieced. This has been a successful class for me. I named it "FIVE EASY PIECES":

Some years later I took it to a workshop with Liz Porter who assured me the large squares of what look like cotton bolls was originally PURPLE, not brown! Everyone laughed as they knew purple is my favorite color. From that moment on, it has been my intention to make the original one more time--in PURPLE this time.

PIECES OF THE PAST IN PURPLE:  The FABRIC PULL:

                                        

The antique top, now stored safely in a pillowcase, in a closet, out of light. It rarely leaves home these days:

the back showing the hand piecing

Front detail 

Front showing very worn border fabrics

The day I bought it at a yard sale I had my sons hold it for a photograph

This top is one of my greatest treasures. It has taught me a lot. Like:

1. Don't judge a book by its' cover

2. Look at the bright side of things

3. When you find a treasure, forget about the one that got away

4. Beautiful things are all around, you just have to look

5. Being in the right place at the right time is mostly luck and good fortune

6. Someday your skills will catch up to your desires

I am really eager to see this one made new and fresh, maybe looking more like it originally did Circa 1875.

Let's quilt.

Barbara