1840s Star quilt, once someone's best quilt, amazing teeny hand stitches and lots of pre-1850s fabrics, a New York Beauty, queen sized. I found it at a yard sale in Berkeley Ca for about $10, may have been used to work on cars. I found a few old blood stained spots.Maybe it was in the Civil War. I tried to repair it with similar fabrics but quit, since it was so fragile and the repairs were kinda obvious. Instead I made a loose copy of it which went to Raven Hale, my cousin Linton Hale's boy. I still have a box full of fabrics because I want to copy it again.tthe original was an extremely difficult pattern, one of a kind. I want to show it to a few more people especially Judy Mathieson, queen of the Mariner's Compass. Here just for you!
love Sara
correction, it is beyond kingsized, I think it is 126 inches square
ReplyDeletethe copy, raven's star, is about 6o inches. I left off the half square triangle borders. I unsuccessful bid on another gorgeous quilt from this era at clar's auction gallery last month, and saw some of the same fabrics in it.
note how bright the little red patches are even after about 170 years. they have little yellow flowers on them. some of the other fabrics have changed color and I have seen some of these same fabrics in other quilts of this era. all were natural dyes of the time. when you handle it, it has a vibe, presence, sense of mana.I wonder about its past life. love sara
ReplyDeleteI it difficult to find red and yellow calico repros, and I used the fabric from a scrap I had for both repros. it was stained and small and I used every inch!! but it had glorious detail.
ReplyDeleteI meant to say, the blue was from a scrap.
ReplyDelete