The Strawberry, Sunflower, Queen of the May, Chinese Star and/or Brimfield Awakening Quilt…

Whichever name the block goes by, I think I’ve covered them all. Almost four years go to the day I began working on this disaster of a quilt, Dec. 4, 2019. I’m guessing it was an eBay purchase and more than likely I paid just a pittance for this “cut into two pieces” vintage old stained ripped worn out quilt? I stitched it back together and set it aside and it was promptly forgotten.

Today I’m thinking…what on earth was I thinking when I bought this disaster? And yes, you read that right, the quilt was cut into two pieces with no regard for much of anything. Nov. 11th of this year, while looking for some sit down work I came across this project and decided to give it a go once again.

Because of the sad condition of the quilt, I decided I needed a backing strip. I laid out one piece of the quilt, pinned the cut edge in place and after pinning, I machine stitched (using a longer stitch) about a half inch away from the cut edge.

Ready to address the second piece.

Using Elmer’s Washable School Glue I run a thick bead along the cut edge of the piece I’ve already stitched to the white added back support strip.

I’ve positioned my two quilt strips to match their cut edges, I’ve glued both pieces to the white back support strip, heat set the glue with a dry iron and now I’m ready to zig-zag over the raw edges, joining the pieces back together again.

Seriously, is this just about the saddest looking quilt!

But have you noticed? This very old quilt is machine quilted! And machine quilted very well I might add. And another thing, it is machine quilted to about 14 stitches to the inch.

So after I get the two pieces back together this is what I’m dealing with…partial blocks both top and bottom and at least a million missing fabrics. I cut away both the top and the bottom rows and am left with a “throw sized” very dirty, worn out quilt. But I like it.

After making a clear plastic template of one of the remaining original block pieces, I begin a fabric stash search for anything that looks old, and if it only kind of looks old I flip over the fabric and use the wrong side.

Because this quilt is machine quilted it’s easy for me to fold under the edges of each replacement piece and straight stitch into place. The picture above shows my progress as I work block by block, piece by piece to replace the worn and/or missing fabric.

Look at the yellow patch below. First know the wrong side of the fabric is facing up and can you see how I machine stitched the piece in place?

Lots more to come as I tackle the disastrous white fabric condition. I’m still thinking “oh what was I thinking” when I bought this quilt and decided to try and “save/rescue” this wreck! 🤣

Stay tuned…

Blessings and happy quilting, Rhonda

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Published by Rhonda Dort

A creative person living in Houston, TX

15 thoughts on “The Strawberry, Sunflower, Queen of the May, Chinese Star and/or Brimfield Awakening Quilt…”

  1. you are sew inspiring. This is a gorgeous pattern that I’ve not seen before. Interesting that it is machine quilted, what year do you think it was made? And do you think that by ironing the glue to dry that you may have “set” the dirty stains in? Eagerly watching what you do next with this quilt. Debra

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    1. Great question! If I had used a permanent glue I might be in big trouble with the stains but the glue is washable, thank heavens because this glue makes this project so much easier!

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  2. Admirable, your work. People cut up quite better quilts. In that case I would have used the quilt as design and re-done it completely new. I’m looking forward to your ideas for saving the white background.

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  7. Hi Ronda, I’m about to quilt 3 antique tops. One is very fragile. I’m thinking about putting muslin behind the top. It has never been quilted before. What would you do?

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  8. You make a silk purse out of a sows ear. Now is that an old phrase. I get so amazed with how you can bring life back to a quilt or pieces of a quilt. You have inspired so many people including me.

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