Antique Delights - Part 1

This is the beginning of a series of posts I plan to share about the amazing collection of antique quilts belonging to a friend of mine, Mrs. B.  For nearly a year now, we have talked about getting together to take pictures of her quilts. Finally, that happened last Thursday. Oh. My. Goodness. What beautiful quilts!

These quilts originally belonged to her mother, Miss Rebecca. Since her mother's passing, Mrs. B. has been putting great effort into dispensing with all the household items, these quilts among them. Can you blame her for adopting them?

Without going into a bunch of detail, which will undoubted unfold as this series unfolds, let's just get to the first of the quilts. It  has been rather a conundrum as to how best to sort and organize all of them. By age? By color? By technique? By theme? I had quite a lot to consider as I edited and cropped the 70-plus pictures I took that day.

This first post will feature the two basket quilts in the collection.

This quilt definitely has some blocks that are deteriorating quite extensively. Did you notice how varied the handles are on each block. I wonder about the quilt maker- was it a young girl just learning how to applique? Miss Rebecca acquired these quilts and most of the ones I will be featuring in this series at estate auctions, so knowledge of the quilt maker is unknown.

This second basket quilt is in much better condition, and the colors have not faded much at all. Those different little appliqued flowers in each basket sure are sweet, almost whimsical. It is worth taking a moment to study the quilting and the designs in the white spaces, which on the older quilts is rather dense. Finally, check out the sawtooth border - that's definitely a labor-intense endeavor, isn't it?

So there's the first installment. I don't quite know how often I will post these, but when I do (possibly every few days), I will be sure to link all previous ones so that when we get to the end, all the links will be easily available.

I'm linking up with Connie over at her Tuesday party.

Happy Quilting, Friends!