“Gathered Blossoms”

This quilt began, unexpectedly, with a vest made of a vintage quilt.

I found this vintage Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt years ago at Renninger’s in Mount Dora, FL, where I used to live, and instantly fell in love. It likely dates back to the 1930s or 1940s, and I had made a sweet little baby vest from a section of it. When someone saw it, she mentioned to a friend how much she loved it. As luck would have it, I still had a remnant of the original quilt tucked away - just enough to make something new for a special bundle.

Gathered Blossoms is a simple baby quilt built around that remaining piece. I wanted to interfere with the original quilt as little as possible, letting its hand-pieced flowers, faded fabrics, and nearly century-old stitches remain the focus. I finished the new quilt simply, including a binding stitched down by hand.

There is something I find particularly moving about working with an old quilt whose maker and original story are unknown to me. Someone chose each of these little fabrics, cut and arranged the hexagons, and stitched them together by hand. Nearly a century later, those same flowers are being gathered up and carried forward into something made to welcome a new baby. It was an honor to keep all that handwork preserved into something new.

This quilt measures 47 × 68.