Antique Quilts

I am spreading out some of my quilts on my daughter's bed, now that the room is once again empty(: I am documenting them here too for future reference.  This Checkerboard quilt I paid $50 for last year at a Charlotte antique store.  When the owner was called for price negotiation, she said that she had too many quilts and was downsizing, but knew nothing about the quilt.  It is all hand pieced and hand quilted, 100 years old and in excellent shape.  I really needed to wash it so I could use it, but I had been unable to do it in the bathtub.  Because it is a utilitarian quilt, tonight I took a risk in my new and awesome washing machine and washed it on delicate.  Then I put it in the dryer. Lucky, lucky me.  It came out beautiful, but now it is all crinkly when before it was not.  My guess is that it has been washed before, but never put into the dryer.  I will have to take a peek into a seam to see what the batting is.  I took a chance that it was not wool.

 This 100 some year old Chips and Whetstones, I paid $300 for 35 years ago in a Phoenix antique store.  She had purchased it from a Sun City estate sale.  It it has never been washed by me.  It is hand pieced and hand quilted. I am so afraid it will bleed, but I would like to wash it.  I have memories of putting a wet white cloth against the red and it bleeding, but tonight when I did it again, there was just a bit of pink, not much.  This is for sure a bathtub quilt..I am just scared.

 This basket quilt I bought last year at an antique store here in Charlotte for $70.  There is color damage and some fading damage.  It is all hand quilted in a fan design and hand pieced.  There is no batting, only a flannel backing.  It is huge, you can see how far it falls to the floor, on both sides, on my daughter's double bed..  I could use some help in dating it.  Looks a bit Amish, but I cannot be sure.  There are places where you can see the darker green before it faded to tan.  That the orange stayed so bright is a wonder.  I would like to wash this quilt too so I can use it on my bed...again..scared.

So now I have added my Peony from New England.  I paid $125 for this 35 years ago.  Hand pieced and hand quilted with the green faded to tan.  It was dated by an appraiser 25 years ago about 1860.  Now if that is true, I have put the two quilts next to each other to compare the fading greens to tan...if that means anything.  It may not.  It is interesting, however.  I bought the Peony quilt at an antique show at Dinner Key Auditorium in Miami, Florida.

 I still cannot believe how huge the basket quilt is...and note the baskets are facing each other in the middle.