I have gone a little crazy and bought three sets of antique, unfinished quilt blocks on eBay. (Update: Nowadays I like to find unfinished quilt blocks on Etsy!) I have to say, when you see these in person, you can’t help but wonder why the quilt never got finished. I mean, these are all stitched entirely by hand. SO MUCH WORK.
But I guess that’s one of those mysteries. Maybe by the time the quilter was done she was tired of the blocks. Or maybe she was unhappy about the fading on some of the blocks. You can see here they were left partially in the sun and faded.
We will never know. But in the meantime, I just love looking at them. There’s quite a few, 16 or 17 I think, and they are full of antique prints. Almost all are original 1930s feedsack prints as far as I can tell:
Thought there’s a few florals that might be from the 1940s. I’m not a quilt historian so I’m not sure. But again it’s a great example of what an authentic quilt from that range would look like. It’s not perfect and it’s not all pastels. There’s red and black and purple and lots of blue. Again, lots of gingham and polka dots.
What I find most remarkable about these is that there are no men’s shirting fabrics in here. Most of the quilts I have seen from this period have plenty of men’s shirtings, but this one doesn’t. It’s all feedsacks and ginghams.
With that coral background, I wonder if it was intended for a young girl? Well, again, we’ll never know. But I think I will finish this one. It really begs to be done since all the blocks are done already. And what a cheerful quilt it will be!! It’s that coral background that really called me when I bid on it.
What’s your favorite of the unfinished pieces I’ve found so far?
Much love,
