Antique Surprise! Made In America!

     What a wonderful morning I had yesterday! I totally love when something happens unexpectedly-and that something is really wonderful. I was just sharing the morning with my husband. He was getting ready to leave on a business trip.We were talking and laughing.....I hear a ding on my phone- I look at it and see that someone has sent me a message on messenger. Curious- I checked it out. It was someone who I did not know. Her message was this: " I have a friend who is looking for someone to quilt a family quilt". I was like- hhmmmm.... cool! So you know--I had to answer right away. It turns out it was a small group of woman ,who were at a local church laying out the quilt top because the owner originally wanted to pin baste it and hand quilt it. Her friends talked to her about a different option----machine quilting it. One of the ladies had seen a previous post of mine on face book about a quilt I had quilted for a customer . I remember that exact quilt too---very vintage looking quilt. Well, we texted back and forth and agreed on them coming over in a couple of hours. 

     What a rainy and cold day. When the car pulled up--I felt bad that they had to get out and come to my door. The woman did come out and what a sweet thing--A Grandma ma! She introduced herself and told me she was excited to show me the quilt. It turns out, it is not one that she pieced. It belongs to her Great Niece's Husband's Great Great Grandmother. Wow!!!!That was all I could think right away. Double wow!This woman told me that this young man remembers his Great Great Grandmother sewing together this very top. What a precious memory.

     We took it out of the bag and opened it up. I loved it instantly---it is all scrappy. It looks like an X and O pattern-sort of . As I held it, I ran my hand gently across it. I had to fondle it. This fabric in the quilt is fabric that was all made in America. We don't have that luxury today. I was so jealous---I wish we still had our mills and produced our own textiles. Anyway---back to the quilt.

     We talked about it--we decided to do a simple edge to edge. I thought a gentle design that would reinforce all of the seams without distracting from the design was perfect. She said she would leave the thread choice up to me. She is a seamstress but does not feel she can do the binding. I offered to do it for her and put a label on the back for her. She gave me a big grin when I told her she can archive about the quilt on the label. We talked some more about the quilt and of course- vintage machines. She was so cute--she kept saying : "I have chills on my legs talking to you" , " It is so nice to talk to someone about quilts and machines". I tell you- that woman makes me smile ear to ear.

     When she was leaving she left me with this statement of hers: " I want you to treat this quilt top as if it was your Great Great Grandmothers and do your best". That made my knees go weak and brought tears to my eyes. I simply answered: "Yes, I certainly will!". With warnings of take your time and don't rush, she was out the door and gone. There I stood--looking at this quilt. It is really difficult to express my thoughts and feelings at that moment. I can tell you that I feel as if the Universe has blessed me with a gem. I feel so honored that this woman would bring me her treasure. I truly can not wait to load this up an work on it. You can be sure that I will post some more about it as I work on it. 

Here she is!!!! She is 100% made in America!

Closer view of it--isn't it just scrumptious!!!

Here is a close up view. Look at all of those scraps of fabric. All made in the good ole USA!

Look at that---she hand stitched this whole quilt together!! This quilt is priceless!!! What a wonderful family heirloom!