Bringing a cherished quilt back to life

I got immersed in a project last week that I spent 3 days to get it finished before we left for our annual family vacation. I wanted to get this done because it's destined for my brother, Eddie and I can deliver it this week.

Before I get into the background of this project I just want to point out that this project would have never happened without bloggers. I've been watching Carole do some miraculous restorations on old quilts and I've always been inspired by Debra's free-piecing and use of vintage textiles in her quilts.

This series of posts are about a quilt made by my Great-Grandmother, Flora Texas Goad Rakes. She died at the age of 80 in 1968. I was almost 8 when she died and I do remember her a bit. I mostly remember her sitting in her rocker with a tin of supplies hand piecing quilt blocks. She also wasn't terribly tolerant of having urchins running around her. But she was a quilter and she made quilts for everyone. If you got married you got a double wedding ring. All of her Great-Grandchildren also got quilts.

Here's another fun blog find. Through my blogging friendships I learned that Karen Goad and I are related through this lady and Karen's husband. Apparently all Goads from Virginia are related.

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Here's the "precious" quilt. This project started with me rummaging in a closet and finding (again) my childhood quilt that Flora made. This is the quilt I slept under until I went to college. It has holes in it and is very worn but I just can't throw it out. I've been waiting for a idea that might inspire me to cut it up and make it into something else. 

My quilt is heave but my oldest brother, Eddie's, quilt was even heavier. About 10 years ago he asked me to repair it but every single fabric was worn out - front and back. During a previous repair we learned that his quilt was heavier because it actually had an old whole quilt as the batting. He had to give up using his several years ago and he's still bummed about it. After watching Carole repair quilts I wondered if I might actually be able to refurbish my quilt and give it to my brother. (I've reached a point in my life where a super warm quilt at night isn't comfortable anymore.) I didn't want to spend too much time because, clearly, all of the value in this quilt is totally sentimental.

Time to inspect! Yes, that's the carpet. This quilt is seriously worn.

There are a few fabrics here and there that have held up but then there are fabrics that have completely shredded.

Now I slept under this quilt for years and years and I never noticed how she did the binding. On the sides the top is folded to the back. Top and bottom have the back folded to the front. This is why I'm always harping on people who are overly self-critical on themselves. Once you accept that the gift recipients only care about 2 things, color and comfort, you can stop worrying about the piecing, quilting and binding precision.

Aside from the holes, the back fabric is in great shape. It's a pretty heavy loose weave fabric and it's really soft. I'll have to keep the softness in mind when I patch those.

I remembered that I had a supply of Flora's orphan blocks. I think these were her pattern blocks. She would make up a sample block and pin the paper patterns to the block. My Aunt gave these to me years ago along with some quilt tops and other blocks. I think I can use these to patch the roughest areas of the quilt.

There were also a stack of scrappy 16-patch blocks. I took that night to think about whether I really wanted to do this and how I might go about it.