Ragtime One-Patch Lives Again

This week was devoted to preparing the backing fabric for and tweaking the patchwork top of Ragtime Dreams, making all ready for the Monday meeting with Jan, the long-arm professional quilter, who will put it all together. Final size for the quilt: 96" wide by 104" long - way big enough for our queen-sized bed. Yea!

This is the vintage fabric, one-patch, quilt top found in a thrift shop over a year ago for a ridiculously low cost (that I could not pass up). At first I thought it was ugly, poorly made from scraps of nothing special. Now that I have come to know intimately the work and the fabrics my attitude has reversed and I believe that maker had a method, organized the rows to balance and must have had a purpose in mind.

Looking at the fabric prints and patterns I have begun to think that this top is likely about the same age that I am (that old!). I should only hope for a such a revival and rejuvenation in my next life. What was the original intent is another question; as is the question why was it abandoned.

More to the point, I realize that my studio is full of many such abandoned projects and the day will likely come when some unknown shopper will find my work (the day after my spouse cleans out my studio), and may finish work I did not see to completion. I like to think they will come to appreciate my efforts as I appreciate those of my thriftshop finds.

In doing the prep to ready the Ragtime project, I am reminded of another thrift shop find early last year that became a bonus for my step-son, David. The photos are of a twin sized, Rail Fence block, with a floral-print backing that was tied w/yarns.

After a through laundering, I re-cut and re-bound the edges, hand quilted the green border, re-did most of the ties and added buttons for interest and accent (mainly and to keep David from using the top-side (?)

The pillow was a fusing-workshop-exercise that I knew I was never going to use.
Costs: the quilt was $10 and for the pillow, some scraps and a few cents for a fusible-web with 1" grid that I hated using. The idea was much better than the actual application. Never again.
Keep sewing....b