Valerean

While out wandering at the end of June we visited a couple of local antique malls, where I found another mystery bag. This one was cheap and marked with a hint of "Linens", which I couldn't resist, so I bought it. Turned out to have two old linen pieces packed in an embellished plant pot. Quite happy with that. There are antique dealers that harvest old beads and sell them; I got these four bags of seed beads, in colors that I always need. Most vintage hankerchiefs and napkins are also pretty cheap, and great for stitch practice. All in all, a day with lots of fun discoveries for just a few bucks.

I am a sucker for a good mystery, and when I saw these two offerings at a local antique mall back in May I couldn't resist them (I also deserved a reward for finishing the second big work project of the year.) The blue Christmas tree bag cost $5.00, and cntained 23 rolls of fabric ribbon, which I use for crazy quilting and wrapping gifts. Since I'm running low on every color in my ribbon stash I'm really delighted with the variety, too. The pink mystery box was $15.00, and held an awesome collection of vintage cooking items. I especially love the little Asian tea cup, the embroidered towels, the sweet bassil seeds and the Salads recipe book. Perfect reward!

Last month we went wandering and ended up in Dade City, a historic little town near Tampa that we've never visited. They have lots of interesting antique and book shops, and in one craft place I found some very neat things, like these vintage embroidered placemats. I also invested in another mystery bag. I know, I'm like a kid, but I love surprises. Got a lot for my money with this one -- and I adore the bunny kitchen towel. I don't often invest in decor, but I couldn't resist up this carrot-shaped basket filled with a variety of Easter eggs, handsewn fabric carrots and a cool mixed media bunny. We had a good time in Dade City. The owner of the craft place recommended Kafe Kokopelli for dinner, and while it's not a cheap place we both enjoyed our meals. A word of warning, the chef's shrimp scampi (which I loved) is pretty spicy!

I had the most vivid and unusual dream back on 2/17, and when I woke up I tried to go back to sleep so I could return to that world. It wasn't happy or sad, just another place where things were very much like this world, with a few notable exceptions. In this place I was the same person, except I seemed to be traveling quite a bit. I pretty much lived in my car (our Subaru, just like here) and was learning a new virtual reality video game that is played on your phone. It was so fun and hyper realistic that everyone was playing it. I wasn't having a lot of luck with the game myself, but I kept trying. Then packages started to arrive with beautiful blankets and quilts hand made from plush fabrics and edged with tiny beads. Someone had to explain to me that these were things gamers sent to each other after meeting and playing in the game, and I should do the same. There was something about car crashes and car thefts, and I had to make a plan of what I'd do if someone...

While I've been spring cleaning I've been parting with some quilts I can't use anymore, but this is one I'll always keep. It's very heavy, worn, and presently too fragile to be used for anything but display. Despite those limitations this is one of my favorite quilts of all time. The reason I love it is that it's the first hidden quilt I ever found. This quilt was batted with an older quilt that is hidden inside. Using old, worn-out quilts as batting for new was a frugal way for makers to source batting. It also preserved quilts that were probably much-loved. I had a conserrvator look at this one and she estimated that it dates back to the 1930's, so it's almost 100 years old. The maker sashed her blocks and created backing out of flour and feed sacks, too, which only adds to the charm of the quilt. I have no idea what the quilt hidden inside looks like; I've never taken it apart. The quilting is pretty dense, and I'd have...

Last night I took apart the hidden quilt piece. To do this, it's best to work from the back. Also, if the quilting stitches are small and dense it kind of takes forever to pick apart. Fortunately this maker used big, loose stitches for the fairly sparse quilting, so it only took about 45 minutes. As soon as I started separating the backing from the hidden quilt I could see the maker used a fertilizer sack for half of it; the words nitrogen and potash printed on the fabric are still readable. This was pretty common about a hundred years ago. I don't think this quilt is quite that old; my best guess is that it was put together in the 30's or 40's. Here is the back of the hidden quilt revealed. The newer backing fabric; made of two different pieces of sacking. The maker was so frugal she actually patched the newer backing fabric Japanese boro style. This is what the quilt piece looked like from the front before I removed the top. And here...

This cheap shabby cutter quilt piece is my reward for finishing my latest novel for work, and I'm really excited about it. Why, you ask in dismay? There's another quilt hidden inside the quilt. To explain: years ago thrifty quilt makers would reuse old, worn-out quilts by using them as batting for a new quilt. This preserved a lot of very old quilts, some dating back to the mid-nineteenth century. I have a full intact hidden quilt that is probably two hundred years old (I've never had the nerve to tear it completely apart, so what is hidden inside that one remains a mystery.) This piece is just a very worn cutter, so I have no problem taking it apart. From the side I can see places where two layers of old quilt material were used as batting, too, which is super interesting to me. Here you can see the backing of the hidden quilt under the backing of the outer quilt. Since I finished my work project today I'm going to take the whole piece apart tonight...