Another week and I have another special treasure to share with ya'll. I am linking up today with our lovely host
Melody for Tuesday's Treasure. Why not join us and share your Treasure?
This is my super duper heavy cathedral window quilt that my mom made for me when I was a senior in high school (some 33 years ago). She was not a quilter. This was her first and only quilt that she every made. I can't even imagine tackling such a big and complicated quilt for my first project.
I remembering going to the closest JC Penny in our city (See, I am a "valley girl"! I grew up in a suburb in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. I can totally remember that "Valley Girl" song) Anyone else remember it?
Upstairs we would march. On the second floor was the fabric, crafts, lingerie and the Girl & Boy Scout Sections. My brothers and I would hide among the racks of clothes. Causing the sales ladies much angst I would suspect. She would buy pieces of fabric for .10 to .25 cents each. I remember that flat fold table like it was yesterday. She would dig and dig until she found a great variety of fabrics. The store had wooden floors. I loved the sound of my shoes on that floor.
One year I took a small piece that I found and had it framed and gave it to her as a gift. It's been in my attic here in North Carolina for 18 years. The glass broke on the frame and it is a bit dusty but it gets sweeter each time I look at it.
Here is a bit of info that I gleaned from the web on these special quilts:
Cathedral Window is a traditional patchwork technique interpreted in old quilts as rows of folded squares of off-white or cream-colored muslin with assorted fabric squares in the windows. It requires about four times its area in the folded squares, so a large amount of fabric is needed for the base of the quilt. Because of the four folds involved in each of the blocks, the resulting quilt also tends to be heavy and therefore does not require batting (or backing) or any quilting. Due to its delicate construction, it is often used more as a bedspread than as a quilt itself.
A cathedral window quilt is not the same as a traditional quilt. Window panes are traditionally made from muslin or cheesecloth to create the translucent and light look generated from the windows. The window frames are often made from heavier cottons or calicos. In the old days colors were used infrequently, however we now have an abundance of materials that can be used with translucence qualities, such as silks, organza (although I wouldn't use it), light cottons and many more
Here's more:
This a great if you are part of a sewing circle or a quilter's group and are constantly on the move with your quilt. You can iron all the pieces before hand and sit very comfortably for a couple of hours while you sew each piece together. This is a lot easier than trying to carry around a full queen-sized quilt and sew the whole thing together.
It seems like it's actually quite a portable project. Maybe I'll try a small one. Along with my once-in-a-lifetime Grandmother's Flower garden quilt that I am working on.
