Surprise Treasures

I couldn't wait to show off these beautiful quilts which were made by Jean, who was a dear friend of my friend, Grace. Jean  passed away some months ago at the age of 90. She made these beautiful quilts out of scraps in the true spirit of patchwork. I was fortunate to be given some boxes of sewing things of Jean's which revealed all manner of sewing notions including thread, zippers, elastic, buckles, needle cases, braid, pins, all kinds of needles, patterns, sewing kits etc etc etc.

I was stunned and delighted to see this gorgeous quilt emerge from one of the boxes!

Its made of hundreds of suffolk puffs, or yo yo's if you like, and they are all sewn together with the most delicate stitches and then stiched onto a piece of curtain fabric. It measures about 35" x 67".
Here are some close ups ......

The second lovely quilt is not finished but it seems to be the centre panel of a single bed sized quilt.

I'm not sure what Jean was planning to do next. In the box were a lot more hexagon flowers already sewn together and a lot of the pink hexies already done too. So maybe she was going to add these to either side of the completed panel. The pink is a quite thick upholstery fabric. The bright pink highlights are thin cotton fabric that you would use to make a blouse or dress. There is more of both of these if needed. There are also a lot of single hexagons and half hexagons so I will have to have a play with it and see what I can work out. Jean was a very frugal lady who used up all her scraps. She also reused the cardboard hexagons.

Also in the box were a few lovely tea towels, linen of course. My favourite is this one.

I think it is a similar vintage to some others that I was given that I posted about back here.
There were also a few things in the box that I had no idea about such as these!

They are beautifully made, the top one looking like a closed umbrella. I have no idea what they are for. They both have holes in one end so maybe for weaving?

Another treasure was this book which was published in 1947 and sold for 2/6!

It has instructions for just about everything to do with sewing so I think it will be quite useful, especially for dressmaking.

I especially love the language used in these old publications. The caption on the top right hand photo states 'The needle and thimble are partners in efficiency.'!!

I love these glimpses into the domesticity of times past. I find it fascinating. Thanks for visiting!