treasures!

Ever since I got my own house I started becoming the repository for things that family members didn't want to store. I'm such an incurable pack rat. (You just never know when you might need it.) Since I sew my mother knows that if she doesn't want to store something and it has anything to do with either quilting or sewing that I will take it. Not that I am complaining mind you, but when it comes to packing up for a move I wish she was storing it instead of me.
While packing this weekend I found some pretty cool treasures that I had stored away and almost forgotten I had. Here are a couple of quilts that were my paternal grandmother's. I don't think she made them, but they were always in her cottage. When she died and my mom and dad started renting her cottage they didn't want to leave anything that anyone minded losing. We know from experience that some renters don't have much respect for things that don't belong to them. Neither of these are quilted. As a matter of fact I think all of the quilts I have that I didn't make are tied. I turned down the corner of this fan quilt to show the back which was pieced.
I also found this partially pieced double wedding ring. There are a lot of pieces cut and quite a few of these melon units all sewn together. I think this was made by my father's mother. She never was the most careful sewer and the stitching on this is pretty bad. There are some pretty funky fabrics cut including some so loosely woven they are almost like burlap. They are also pretty poorly cut. Some of the pieces have rounded corners and I'm not sure how I am going to put them together. I probably never will. I don't even have time to finish my own UFO's much less taking on some from previous generations. BUT..... I certainly can't get rid of it. You never know. I might just NEED to do a '30's Double Wedding Ring some day.
We got a lot of packing done this weekend. I do have to say I am very proud of how ruthless I was. We took 2 truckloads to the dump. I did get a little time to do something other than packing. I finished the 25-patch squares for my Sew Scrappy from Evelyn Sloppy's 40 Fabulous Quick-Cut Quilts that I have been doing as leaders and enders. I got close and I was so anxious to finish I just did them all at once. I also got the fabric for the double half square triangles and the border cut. I really love that quilt and I can't wait to finish it. I haven't gotten the background yet. Everything I have in my stash for backgrounds is either too light or too beige. I really need something with a creamy tone. I found the perfect one from the new Moda Rites of Spring collection. It was so expensive though since I need 5 yards. Paying 2 mortgages makes paying full price for fabric out of the question in large quantities. I'll have to go check out Marden's and see if they have anything I like that I could use. :>)