Curiosity gets the best of me

This past week hasn’t left much time for blogging, what with Christmas and a foot of snow. There’s nothing quite like sitting in front of a fire wrapped up in a quilt with a nice cup of tea after shoveling snow on Christmas. But after three days of snow it’s time for a bit of excitement.

Curiosity has gotten the best of me. That’s right. I’ve started to unveil the hidden quilt. This isn’t always an easy decision to make. Most quilts that have been recycled as batting are worn beyond repair and often taking a quilt apart to see what’s inside will ruin the outer quilt. But in this particular case, the outer quilt is tied so it can be removed without damaging either the outer or the inner quilt, making the decision to see what’s inside much easier.

I began by removing the binding from one corner. The binding was attached in the typical way -- machine stitched on the front and hand stitched on the back. Only this one was hand stitched with heavy thread -- buttonhole thread or crochet thread. Every stitch had to be removed individually. After a few inches I could see that the inner quilt was bordered and bound with pink fabric that was thin but in good shape. A few more inches of removing the binding revealed some pink and white flannel that had been attached to the edge of the quilt. This could mean two things. One, this was the top of the quilt and the flannel had been attached to project the edge, a common practice in the past. Two, this was the top of the quilt and the edge was so worn from pulling on it that they had to replace the edge with another piece of fabric.

That is when I realized I would have to remove some of the ties in order to see the block and check it for signs of wear.

So, I undid the binding for about 12 inches on either side of the corner and removed the nine ties from the same corner. I peeled back the corner and squealed with delight as I discovered the block underneath. The condition of the block is great. The colors are a tiny bit faded, but not worn. The quilt appears to be hand pieced and hand quilted. I must check out the rest of the quilt.

Only 290 inches of binding and 310 ties to go before the entire quilt is revealed!