Vintage Gems

A Quick Note:

Due to a huge increase in spam comments (like 50 a day) I had to make a bit of a change. I am not a fan of 'captcha', although I  understand why it must be used.

Before I have to go  the 'captcha' route I am going to try something else first. I will not accept comments from anyone who chooses to be 'anonymous '. Thus far, this has completely eliminated the raft of spam comments, but I hope that it will not deter any of you from leaving a note. 

Comments about this are welcomed!

This post is really about some wonderful little vintage gems that recently came my way.....

36 lovely six inch vintage quilt blocks

I have a continuing love affinity for vintage fabrics and quilt blocks, although in recent years I have not purchased any new ones for my small collection. When I saw this little group of thirty-six six inch squares on Ebay about a month ago though, I simply had to make a bid.... and, as luck would it,  they came to my house.

These blocks are all hand sewn, and I believe that the fabrics, which are in excellent shape, are from the late 30's and early 40's. What I had not anticipated was quite how yellowed with age they were - even though the colors were still vibrant the whites were really yellow, and the hand was almost 'crisp' with age.  I washed them, and although I am sure they were cleaner they were no less yellow and they would have been unusable in that condition. 

I decided to order some "Restoration" fabric soak from Engleside Products.  I have known about this product for many years, but had never found the need to buy it. In my utter haste to try it I neglected to take any "before" photos. Duh! How foolish of me! This stuff is an absolute miracle, and I will be using it for the vintage pillowcases that I use daily as well as for any other vintage cottons that I use. It's astounding what it did for these blocks. They went from very yellow to pristine white in 8 hours with a hand that is now as soft as it once was.

As always with reds - some the color crocked into the white. 

I love collecting vintage fabrics because they are like a library to me. Maybe that's one reason that I tend to love scrap quilts too. They become fabric libraries of the future. I have always been a feed sack fan. I love the cheerful simplicity of the fabrics, and I love the idea that these handy bags were used to bring home products that were always in use. I wish we could still go this route, but I suspect that lawyers and insurance companies would now have a field day with the potential for harm. How did we all mange to survive before the advent of plastics?!

The next three images are of the same block. I was, at first, a bit puzzled at the blue color that I saw in the white square - until I turned the block over and noticed that the maker had changed from white thread to a very dark blue thread! My! How thread manufacturing has improved over the years!

Close up of the white and dark blue thread that caused the color run on the top

This dark fabric, and it is only one block worth of it, is probably my favorite of the bunch although I also think that it is one of the more modern fabrics in the blocks. There was no color running, and it looks so crisp and lovely!

Isn't this a cheerful print?! I have two of these little gems

This block is such a perfect example of the era.
Cheerful, colorful, simple! It IS a bit whiter than image 

Vintage stripes anyone?!

This is another of my favorite blocks.
Again, I think that it is one of the more modern fabrics in the lot, but it makes me happy.

I wish I had more of this fabric. It's cheerful, colorful and redolent of the times!

I have no immediate plans for using these thirty-six blocks. They have been washed, and trimmed and they will be safely stored until I have a bigger vision for them. I think that they might work well with some of my hoard of vintage Dresden Plates perhaps. Now, we'll see if I can continue to stay away from EBay! Now that I have discovered the wonders of Engleside Restoration soak I may well be tempted by some things that in the past I might have overlooked!

Small, pretty stitches all in a row
that have survived all of these years.