Vintage Inspiration

Last week, after I finished a book signing, my friend Martha joined me for a delicious lunch and a little poking around a couple of antique stores on the way home. You know those places you've been driving by for years but never stopped to check them out? Well we finally did, and it was worth it for sure. 

We found some wonderful quilt inspiration! The two quilts above were made from the same intense, bright pink and blue fabrics. They were both hand quilted and in fairly good shape. It was hard to get a good photo because they were in a narrow hallway, but trust me when I say there wasn't a spare square inch to spread anything out! I've never seen so much stuff crammed into an old house. But take a peek at that border? Awesome isn't it?

And this pink quilt really caught my attention. I love how some of the blocks look planned out and some are clearly just a pot luck of whatever was left over. Scrap quilting at it's finest in my opinion! Thanks to Martha for holding it up and turning it around for the photos.

Then we found this sweet quilt in pinks and greens. It was fragile but in remarkably good shape. I was impressed by the care and workmanship. This quilter knew how to line up her points!

And this sweet bow tie quilt was tucked up too high to reach. I would have had to lean over quite a few things on the floor and then wouldn't have had room to unfold it anyway. But I like to imagine that all of those sweet bows were made from different shades of blue. The pretty baptist fan hand quilting really impressed me as well.

And then this quilt was being used as a table cover way in a back corner. There was no way to reach this one but I was so intrigued by the simple nine patches and bars that I've already started working on this pattern in EQ7. I'm pretty sure I need to make this sweet simple design!

Maybe I should have been taking the time to stop in this shop a few years ago! I'm just glad I finally did, and I have Martha to thank for the encouragement.

Enjoy every stitch!

Diane