Diamonds Are Forever

 Welcome to Treadlestitches!  It's the last Saturday of the month, so time for some antique quilts!  Or in this case, antique tops.  

I have loved collecting antique quilt tops.  They're often affordable, store easily, and remind me that quilters of the past didn't finish everything, either.  

Quilts made with diamond shapes really have been around for at least 300 years.  When it comes to pieced quilts, that's pretty much forever!  Diamonds are very versatile, and can be combined with other shapes to make lots of blocks.

First up is this unusual 60 degree diamonds top.

It was made around 1940, and is set in bands of color, like a rainbow quilt.  (Is that why it caught my eye?)

This pattern has several names, including baby blocks.  Quilters would typically sew 2 of these diamonds together (the yellow print ones, here) and add the third with a set-in angle (the yellow solid).   Most quilters would hand piece them.

The quilter who made this top was NOT typical.  For one thing, she/he machine pieced it.  For another, it looks as though the print diamonds were sewn into a long row, and then the solid diamonds were added in.  This would have been quite a job, with all those set in angles, especially using a sewing machine.

But that's not all.  I don't know if you can tell from this very amateur photo, but all three of these large green print diamonds have been made up from smaller pieces skillfully sewn together so that the seam virtually disappears.

Here's another example.  Would you even dream of trying to match up these skinny red and white stripes?  She very nearly pulls it off perfectly!

One more thing!  In this whole twin-sized top, there are no two prints alike.  Some rows, like blue and green, repeat but do not use any of the same prints.  You may have heard of charm quilts (which by the way has nothing to do with charm squares).   This was a fad from long ago, to make quilts with no two pieces alike.  This quilt is NOT technically a charm quilt, since the solid colors repeat.  It is however a very original take on a traditional design.

Let's go back fifty more years to 1890, and see a real charm quilt.

This one is smaller than the first, a narrow twin size or maybe lap size.
 

It's 60 degree diamonds again, made with lots of interesting scraps.  Although many of the fabrics are similar, no two are exactly the same.

I just love looking at all these prints!  The variety is amazing.  And of course that's one of the best things about charm quilts.

The fabrics are typical of clothing from this time period, with lots of indigo blue, brown, red, double pink, and black.

This time, the diamonds are hand pieced into rows.  The quilter sewed two dark diamonds, one light diamond, two dark diamonds, and so on into long vertical rows.  Then she/he set the rows together, and it makes a horizontal pattern of dark and light.  I wonder if quilters had trouble finding light fabrics then, too?  There are twice as many dark rows as light rows, and there are some medium shade diamonds in the light rows.  Just wondering.

The first quilt top came from a silent auction years ago at my quilt guild.  I found the second one crumpled up in a booth in an antique mall in Milwaukee.  I don't know anything about their histories, sadly.  (I always ask.)

Sometimes people ask me if I plan to quilt the tops I've collected.  It is perfectly okay to quilt a top that's not of historic value (neither of these are), but there can be other concerns.  The 1890 charm quilt has a few fragile pieces that would need to be reinforced, and it might need to be hand quilted for that reason.  I probably will not take the time or trouble, and will just enjoy it as it is.  The 1940 top, however, could be quilted by machine since the fabrics are in such good shape.  However, the quilter had some trouble will those set in seams.  The top doesn't lie flat, and there are places that would need re-sewing.  Plus I have so many tops that I've made myself, waiting to be finished.   So we'll see.

In other news, a little more aqua.

Our quilt guild is starting a Block of the Month, and March's block is Shoofly.  We're to make two blocks, but reverse the color placement in the second one.  I already had the aqua strips out for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge color of the month, so now I've got this "assignment" done.  Quilt homework is the best kind.

I caught our little buddies "reading" together the other day.  I hope they'll always love books!

By the way, if you're wondering why my photos are even worse than usual, blame our weather!  We have had days of gloomy skies, an ice storm, and snow, so today when the sun shone brightly I just couldn't shut it out, even to take pictures!  It was so uplifting to see the beautiful blue sky.

This week, I'm wishing blue skies ahead for us all, and lots of sunshine.

Cheers for reading,

Sylvia@Treadlestitches

Linking up with:

Alycia at Finished or Not Finished Friday

Angela at So Scrappy

Cynthia at Oh Scrap