Time for the Fall Quilt Airing

Posted on September 28, 2013 by Billie Crumly —

NOTE: Click each photo to see a larger view.

It’s almost October and at this time of year the quilts need to be aired.  It’s quite a job — totin’ all those beauties to the clothesline where they’ll hang for the day.  Of course, each quilt has a story behind it. (*The quilt in the picture to the left is called Brick Work.  Some lady saved her husband’s tobacco sacks, ripped them open, dyed them and then pieced and quilted a quilt. It’s an example of using whatever was available to make a quilt.  I paid $15 for the quilt a few years ago.) *copied from another blog post

As I hang this string quilt I can look at the many pieces in it and briefly live in the past.  This little piece was from some kitchen curtains.  Oh look at this piece, this was from a dress I made for my mother and here’s a piece from Beth’s first school dress.  I could linger at this quilt for a long time.

Now here’s the Double Wedding Ring — I tried so hard to piece this one, but failed.  I brought the scraps and pattern to a lady here on the mountain and she pieced this difficult quilt on the sewing machine and did a wonderful job.

Clamshell is a beauty and I remember piecing it one winter.  I was gainfully employed at the time, but at night I always managed to put together a few pieces.  I used one row of muslin and one row of printed “shells.”  When I quilted it I walked all drawn over to the side for a time — due to the position I sat in while quilting. I wonder why I enjoy quilting more than piecing — it doesn’t make sense.

I’ll just spread this one out on this lawn chair.  It’s heavy and made from fertilizer sacks.  One time we visited a friend and she was painting –using this quilt for a drop cloth.  John asked what she’d take for it and she priced it at $25.  He just took the money out of his pocket and we rescued the drop cloth.  Black letters still remain on the sacks used for the lining.

This Chicken Quilt is an original — one year I was on the faculty of the Quilt Symposium in Chattanooga and was asked to bring an assembled quilt using an Amish design.  Okay, I pieced some long strips together — different widths and different colors, but all coordinating.  I put the quilt in the frame when I was still Marietta, GA.  John helped me roll it up on the side rails and I hauled it to Chattanooga with the end of the rail sticking out the window of that old Chevrolet.  It was the assignment of the class to come up with a design for the quilting.  As the girls sat around the quilt they discussed different quilting patterns and one lady said one piece was the color of eggs.  With this they designed chicken wire for the border — quilted eggs in the corners with one corner having a hen. In the center of the quilt is a large basket of eggs of various sizes.  I completed the quilting after I returned home, but memories remain.

The Dutch Doll is an old pattern from my youth and it is still one of my favorites.  The newest quilt in my collection is what I call the leaf quilt.  The name in the book I used was Autumn Leaves, but leaves used in my appliqued quilt are not autumn leaves — color is not right.  It took me 200 hours to quilt this one.  My quilt frames hang from the ceiling in our den and it’s convenient to sit and quilt while the One I Love Best Watches TV.

This clothesline is not long enough to hold all my quilts at one airing – there’ll have to be another airing soon before the weather turns cold.  Now I need to find some Southernwood to put in the wardrobe where these are stored.  Southernwood is supposed to keep bugs out of the quilts and I used to have it growing in the herb garden, but now there is no herb garden. To stand back and look at the colorful line of quilts is one of the pleasures of county living.