For the Love of an Old Quilt

A dear old friend reluctantly handed me a bag of deteriorated quilts, knowing that I enjoy the challenge of  transforming something old into something new and fantastic.  I've made lots of skirts and bags from old quilt tops.  I've even repaired some old torn quilts and restored them back to their former glory.  I could tell these deteriorated quilts were near and dear to her heart as she told me that her sweet Aunt had made these back in the 1930s.  She cherished them and was so disappointed that other generations of her family had not treated them well.  One of the quilts even had cigarette burns all over it.

I salvaged some star blocks from one quilt and decided to try making a few pillows.  As you can see,  these old quilts were stuffed full with carded cotton batting from the good old days.  I'm glad we have better batting choices these days!

These were very thick to sew through but my Bernina 750QE handled it like a champ!  After sewing the initial seam, I used the extra wide zigzag stitch to secure the seam allowance neatly.  Love that option to adjust the width of any stitch up to 7 mm wide!

I thought a square pillow would be a bit boring so I trimmed them like a hexagon and sewed them up.  It surprised me when they came out looking like a flower after I stuffed them!  If  I can come up with a few clever ways to cover up the burn spots, I might just whip up a few of these for my dear old friend.  I think she might like to give them to her great grandchildren just to keep them in the family.  

I'll be linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts Friday Finish blog this week.