The Curtain Quilt

This was the first quilt I finished when I had job security and made the decision to start "quilting by check" to get tops finished.  It is a personal favorite.  The top was finished back in February 2017.  It got quilted in 2020 I think, then bound in 2021, and is now finally getting documented.

I love the quilting design!

When we emptied and closed my parents' house years ago I kept all the curtains my mother had made.  Some were so old and worn that they disintegrated in the wash.  But I held on dearly to what survived.

I should have taken a before picture.  The curtains in the "pink" room were cream on the top 2/3s and horizontal 2.5" stripes of various fabrics on the lower 1/3.  They were lined, which may be why they survived the south Florida sun in somewhat better condition than others.

After much thought, I decided to cut the striped sections into as many uniform sections as I could and form a sort of Chinese Coin type arrangement stacking repeating sections of curtain.

By joining pieces of the cream fabric I was able to use it as the sashing between the coin sections.  I was not aiming for perfection, but for holding on tight to a memory.  So all the fade marks and stitching lines that didn't come out in the wash are still there.  

The back took another year, since I couldn't decide and then I couldn't face the math.  For the back I used 2 small plaid panels that were all that survived the wash from another set of curtains.  Combined with a blue print and a solid pink it works.  Both the blue and pink were oddly shaped pieces, but with a lot of math and creativity it worked out.  I did end up having to add part of a sheet from the "pink" room to bring it up to big enough.  The backing was finally finished in 2019. 

This will always be a favorite for me.  It hangs on a ladder in the living room where I can see it all the time.