First, I have hooked a new quilter, and I’m reeling her in! A couple of weeks ago I ran into a friend that I worked a while back, and she expressed an interest in learning to quilt. Of course I was thrilled at a chance to pass on my love of quilting! I sent a ridiculously long e-mail explaining the tools she’d need and I included links to several good beginner quilts. She picked up the rotary cutter, mat, and ruler – on sale, of course. It’s the only way to buy that stuff. She was interested in two of the patterns I suggested, a Chinese Coins and a string quilt. I loaned her my copy of “Start Quilting with Alex Anderson” and she pulled fabrics from my stash. I have to say, she has a really good eye for color. She found a swirly print that looks like camouflage, but when you look closer it has bits of orange and teal as well. She pulled about ten fabrics (I kept saying, “More! More!) and I explained how to square up the fabric and use the rotary cutter. She was able to sew a few strips together before she had to go, but we’ll be getting together again in the next couple of weeks, probably. It’s so much fun to see it click for someone else!

The other “on the line” is literally ON the line – the clothesline. When my grandmother moved a year or so ago, she came across an old quilt in her closet and gave it to me. She doesn’t know the history of it – wasn’t really sure where she got it. She said she never used it. They lived in that house for 35 years and it’s probably been in the closet the whole time. Based on the fabrics I’d guess the quilt is probably from the 40’s. I really should get it appraised. Anyway, I finally got around to taking a picture of it hanging on the clothesline. I had to fold about half of it over the line because it is so big – it’s a queen size quilt.

The blocks are appliquéd to muslin and the sashing is machine sewn on top of the fabric, not between the blocks. The batting feels like a thin blanket, and the back is a white sheet. It looks like the top and back were put together like a pillowcase and the “binding” was actually just sewn to the front, like the sashing. It is tied with lightweight yarn. The whole thing is in spectacularly good condition – no spots, no worn pieces, everything just as bright and crisp as the day it was made.