Repair, Restore

 I have been working on and off for a couple of years at a sweet little quilt shop called Alma Sue's Quilt Shop making quilt tops and doing repairs and restorations. I thoroughly enjoy this because I get to put my hands on quilts that we're lovingly made by somebody else. Sometimes we take in quilts that were made as far back as the nineteenth century, and boy do I love that! 

 They ladies of the shop are mostly of Mennonite or Amish backgrounds, so there is a spot set up for them to hand quilt. A majority of these quilt tops are brought in from family members who have found these little gems hidden in boxes and trunks just awaiting to be found. Like the quilt picture above, the are made with fabrics from long ago. We see calicoes, double pinks, and amazing patterns all made with a special love that only a quilter can understand.

 The latest Restoration I have been working on is a quilt that was made in the early 1990's for a grandchild. It has been greatly loved and now needs some of my lovin'. 

 With a mix of piecing, hand embroidery, hand quilting, and appliqué this adorable quilt has a lot of work and love put onto it. It also has three, yes three, layers of backing along with batting. 

It's the heaviest quilt I have ever held! 

 Well, the middle section and the four corners have to be replaced, as well as some of the blocks. So it was decided that I take all three layers of backing off and disassemble the quilt. That means I have to seam rip all the hand quilting, I know some of you are cringing right now, I also have to redo all the embroidery and appliqué, and guess what, I couldn't be happier that I was chosen to do this. I cannot wait to work through this project and learn from this quilt. It's not often we get to take apart a quilt, we are always putting them together!

I will be posting progress on this as I go along, I do hope you follow along with me!

~Anna V