Grandmother's Garden

When I was in high school, I had to do a senior project. I decided to learn how to sew. I chose my grandmother as a mentor for the project. I learned a lot, but one of the best things she did was give me a beautiful quilt that was unfinished. It was a grandmother’s garden quilt. The quilt was in various stages when I got it, and I was only able to work on it a tiny bit at the time. When I went off to college I packed the quilt away and it has moved from place to place with me for the last 10 years. I finally pulled it out a few weeks ago to look at it again.

There are a few parts to this quilt. First I have the parts that are already sewn together.


Then there are the flowers that are done, but not attached yet.


And finally the small shapes that will eventually make up more flowers, but are not sewn to anything yet.


The fabrics are beautiful.




I asked for some help dating these fabrics on a quilting board I am on. Most people seem to think the fabrics are from the 30s. I pulled a few of the newspaper centers out of the parts that didn’t need them anymore to look for a date. I found a 1931 date that looked like an advertisement for farm equipment. This tells me that it was put together right around that time, so it would make sense that the fabrics are from that time too.





I love this quilt though it has to be pieced by hand, so I don’t know how much of it I will get done any time soon. But if I do a little bit here and there, hopefully one day I can finish what was started in 1930.

Happy Quilting!
Rachel