Beloved Old Quilt...

Kathleen Kolwicki's Wedding Ring Quilt - Eleanor Burns Pattern

 I saw this quilt, created by Kathleen Kolwicki, at the Venice Quilt Show

last Saturday. (By the way - The show was wonderful and inspirational!)

It was well-made and beautiful and I really thought the colors were delish.

I was especially interested in seeing wedding ring quilts, because I am on 

a mission to recreate a little bit of our family history in the form of an old

Wedding Ring Quilt.

Note: Color is more accurate in the next photograph

 When Handsome and I built and moved into our home in Campbellsport,

Wisconsin, a blue and white quilt was the perfect choice for our bedroom.

I found exactly what I was looking for in a catalog (I think it was Eddie

Bauer's). Remember, I wasn't even contemplating quilting at that time.

The quilt resided on our bed for years and years. It was slept under by the

two of us, but my first Labrador, Bryn frequently took herself upstairs for

afternoon naps, and she never hesitated to hop right up onto the quilt. I often 

just tossed this quilt into the washer and dryer and put it back on the bed.

When it got a little tear in the fabric, I took something blue and white from

my fabric stash and just hand stitched it over the tear. (I also had no idea 

there was such a thing as "quilt restoration".) My ignorance killed this quilt.

When the quilt finally started to fall apart, I cut away the best four rings, 

figuring that I would make it into a little table mat or simply a sweet, little 

stand-alone quilt for the back of a chair. I tucked it away and forgot about it.

Top curve is the original; bottom curve is fabric samples for a remake.

 I'm no longer afraid of the prospect of curves in quilting, so I recently

pulled out my little, raggedy remnant. Then I sorted through all the blue

fabrics in my stash until I assembled these fabrics. (the ones that are lined

 up on the bottom curve in this photograph.) They're darker than the colors

in the original, but the original was even bleached (arrrgghh!) so I'm

taking the change in color into consideration when choosing new fabrics.

I'm going to sit down with my quilting patterns (I know I have a Wedding

Ring pattern around here somewhere. Now, where did I put that?) and make 

a Wedding Ring quilt for our Florida Masterbedroom bed. I know... now I

have another project for my To Do List. One thing is for sure, I now know

better how to handle a quilt, whether new, old, manufactured or hand crafted.

The next one will definitely be better treated that this beloved old quilt.