Grandma's Hands

My family is full of very talented people. My mother taught my sisters and me how to sew on her old Singer sewing machine. I won't tell you how long ago that was, but it was around the time that JFK was president.

I'm not sure where I got the quilting bug from, probably my grandmother and my aunts (paternal). A few years ago I was blessed to receive a quilt made by my grandmother (mama Evie). Recently my niece sent me two more quilts made by her.



This quilt is called a Lone Star quilt. It is made up of a large star that takes up most of the quilt top. The star has eight points, and each section is comprised of pieced diamonds. It has also been called the Mathematical Star, Native Americans called it the Morning Star. Other common names are the Star of the East and Bethlehem Star. It was dubbed Lone Star by quilters in Texas because it's the Lone Star state which is what most people call it. Being from Texas, guess what I call it?



It has some significant damage, but I would like to try and save it. It has been all hand sewn, pieced and quilted. Some of the fabric might have to be replaced because it it torn and shredded. There are two schools of thought on the procedure to repair a damaged quilt. Some believe that all the original fabric should be saved; the restorer places the new piece of fabric over the damaged piece. If this is done however the repaired section will be thicker that the surrounding pieces which may present a problem down the road. The other option is to cut out the damaged piece and replace it with new fabric. Since this quilt was made over 60 years ago it would be impossible to match the fabric or color. The repaired section would definitely stand out. I haven't decided which method I will choose. Currently I am marking the sections that need repair.


This quilt is a simple criss-cross quilt. There are several different patterns for criss-cross quilts this one is a block with sashing in between on the diagonal. It's very cool if you notice all the diagonal strips line up and all the blocks are even. If you look closely you can also see that the sashing looks like x's and diamonds. Even though the quilt is probably at least 40-50 years old it has a very modern feel to it. Both of them are hand pieced and hand quilted.









It also has significant damage. Although sad it is proof that these quilts were used and loved which after all was the reason they were made.