Vintage Quilts

Since this blog is supposed to be mine and Kirsten's, she seems to think I need to actually add some posts. Well, this weekend, we went to visit my parents and I realized how many quilts my mom has and that I had no idea where any of them came from or who made them. We gathered them all up and made a pretty stack of them and then the adorable Zoey consented to pose in front of them.
Now, here is the stack without Zoey. There were 11 quilts in all. We brought them all out for my mom to help identify them. Some of them were made by my Great Grandma Wiig. Some she wasn't sure where they came from or who made them. It really made me realize the importance of labeling quilts.

Thanks to the assistance of my husband, son, son-in-law and Kirsten, we were able to photo all the quilts. Get ready for photo overload! You will notice that many of these quilts have been well loved and were well used and could all probably use a good cleaning.
This one was machine pieced, hand appliqued, and hand quilted. We believe it was a gift from my Grandma James to my parents and was possibly finished by some ladies in Southerland, Nebraska.
This double wedding ring was a wedding gift to my grandma Cox from her mom, who was my great grandma Wiig. It was machine pieced and hand quilted. Friends and relatives wrote their names on the quilt and then the names were embroidered.
This was the embroidered signature of my grandma's aunt.
This Texas Star was was made by grandma Wiig. It was machine pieced and hand quilted.
This one was machine pieced and quilted and we don't know where it came from.
This one was my favorite. It was made by grandma Wiig. It is hand pieced and quilted. And my sweet mom let it come home with me!!! I think it will be very happy in its new home and I'm so glad my mom didn't make me wait to inherit it.
Here is a little detail of the piecing and quilting. Mom thought some of the fabric in this was from flour sacks. Kirsten and I think the fabric looks a lot like the 30's reproduction fabrics that are out now.
This was made by my great grandma Wiig, for my mom. It is one of a pair that were made for my mom's 2 twin beds and were well loved. One apparently was loved to death and is no longer with us. I don't actually remember this, but my mom said my brothers and I used to fight over who got to use these quilts. This was machine pieced and quilted.
Here is a little detail. of the quilting.
This one was in my grandma Thompson's things but we don't know who made it. It most likely came from Kansas. It was machine pieced, hand appliqued and hand quilted.
Here is a detail of the applique.
We don't know where this beauty came from. It was machine pieced, hand appliqued and hand quilted.
Here is a detail of the quilting.
This one is in pretty rough shape with some of the fabric worn all the way through. This is another that we don't know where it came from but it had great 30's fabrics that also looked like the repro fabrics.
This one hangs on the wall in one of the bedrooms at my parents house. It was hand pieced and hand quilted by my grandma Wiig. Don't those look like perfect circles?
Here is a close up of the amazing hand quilting and piecing.
And finally, another that we don't know where it came from. This one was in really rough shape with many of the fabric pieces completely worn through. Since it was so worn, I could see that it didn't have batting, but rather had a flannel sheet in the middle. I love how the fans make it look like it's moving and it was the softest quilt in the collection.

I'm torn in my feelings about whether these beautiful old quilts should be restored and the worn pieces replaced or if they should just be cleaned and carefully loved and preserved as they are, with their original, if worn out, fabrics. What would you do?

Tracy