This quilt has a history. The fabrics come from Massachusetts Mill in Lowell MA. I purchased them in the late 1980s. They were the leftover pieces from summer cotton shifts and aprons. Shifts were light summer dresses for wearing around the house when it was hot. At that time, I bought three paper grocery bags of scraps after these dresses were cut out. The mill sold them for $3 a bag. This was the third bag that I purchased. The bag contained pieces that looked like pockets, I think they were actually scraps from the armholes. At that time it was very difficult to purchase good fabric. Although there was a good quilt shop not too far away, it was small with only a small amount of fabrics to choose from. For me, to have a grocery bag of scraps was wonderful!!
The only "famous" quilter I knew was Georgia Bonesteel and I purchased a book or two to dream over. I loved the old fashion quilts. So, even thought I only had Georgia, I had the 30s style quilts in mind. I loved Dresden plate quilts. They just spoke to me of a different time, as did this particular bag of scraps. I found the pattern for this particular book, that I loved to sit and look through. I still have it and I still sit and look through it once in a while.
copyright 1984 or 1985 I think. It's close.
I found the template, traced it on cardboard, and cut out a large pile of these wedges with scissors. I machined them into plates, then hand appliqued each one to a background. I made it to twenty, but I was beginning to run out of the colors I wanted in this quilt, so I never got to 25; I wish I had.
I completed the top with the borders and put it away. Although I had a quilting frame my son had made in High School shop, I really didn't have the time to hand quilt like that. Those years turned into very busy ones for me. In 2017, I purchased Phoebe, my priceless helper, a real gem. After practicing on muslin pieces, I put this quilt on the frame. It is the first quilt I every did on Phoebe. There are some pics from back in 2018. I was so proud of this quilt! I took it off the frame and put it in a pile. Problem? I had no idea how to bind it. A year ago I thought I had figured out a way, but I just don't have the sewing machine skills to sew around all those curses in the border. They were small and tight.
So having just finished SueBonnet Sue, I took this one out to see what I could do. I hand stitched the border on, then hand stitched the back side to complete it. It took forever and my hands were exhausted from the project, but it is done!!
Back side of Mill Girls
I almost always take a picture of the back while it is on the line. I've done it for years. I love the way the light comes through and shows off the front. Makes me think Id like to do one in pastels. This is the pattern I have repeated the most and I've purchased a 1930s hand tied one that I will be quilting up soon, plus I have a yellow and blue one to quilt as well.
Mill Girls front
I've washed the quilt and hung it out to dry. I'll run it through the dryer quickly later. I will be keeping it on the end rail of my bed until summer. It will be my summer blanket. I couldn't be happier with this quilt. It has such an old look to it. There are tons of problems with this quilt, but I don't care, I love it anyway!
Mystery???
I was looking though my photos yesterday when I came across this quilt. I was stunned to see it because I had simply forgotten I had finished it. Here's the mystery, I have no idea what I did with it, I don't know if it is in my possession or did I give it away? I don't even know where to look for it.
Just a fun little quilt!
Counting my blessing!
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