Margo, What a delightful set of history. Wouldn't you just love to hear the stories they all have? You are clearly the right person to deal with all the the challenges these quilts present. Thanks so much for sharing them so far. Look forward to seeing at least some of the finished photos.

Oh, I love it! A creative pleat! What the heck; it works!

Dawn
In beautiful Northwest Montana

Lois, I have no idea how much water alone would have taken it in, but this is what heavy starch did for it:
Compared to the photo on page 2, there is a lot of improvement!

See the red square?



Here is the same area after another pass was quilted:



And here is the top half of a creative pleat!

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"Did I mention that measuring was not high on the quiltmaker's agenda either?
Where she took large tucks to make things fit, I'm left with some "D" cups!"

Maybe I need to take back what I said about it being such an honor to have been asked to do this task. Sometimes people who do not quilt or sew don't know what they are asking. I think in cases like this it is quite appropriate to have a few tucks in the quilting as well. You can only do the best you can. I am curious about how much fullness the spray starch takes up. I wonder why it shrinks the cloth better than just water.

Well done Margo!

Hi Margo - Good luck!! Not an easy job, but if anyone can do it then you can!

Nancy

Even with their "issues", we still love them for their personality and the link to the makers, now gone. As I tell all my beginning quilt students: "There's nothing wrong with your quilt that 100 years won't solve!"

Margo, thanks for sharing all of these wonderful quilts. I'm glad it's you and not me doing the quilting. I would definitely have a hard time dealing with that fullness. I remember color on my hands once, probably back when I was working mostly with plaids.

OK....the large red log cabin is on the frame. All of these quilts have had "issues", but this one has more fluffyness than the rest to try to ease in.

I have sprayed the entire pass with starch and hope that when it dries it will have sucked out some of the fullness!



Did I mention that measuring was not high on the quiltmaker's agenda either?
Where she took large tucks to make things fit, I'm left with some "D" cups!

Margo, thank you for giving us the quilt show. They are beautiful, and the time and resourcefulness involved is wonderful. Thank you for treating them with the care they deserve.

Thanks so much for sharing these, Margo!! And I agree completely with Pam Day--you are the perfect person to add the finishing love to these "family treasures"!

Margo, those quilts are a wonderful inspiration. I like the first log cabin, you show, because the block turned 'wrong'(?) makes the pattern turn into a spiral. But they are all great.

Margo, these quilts are priceless! And, now I know what you've been working on lately! What wonderful treasures these will be now that you have firmly secured them, and given them a new life. Also, I am amazed at the amount of hand stitching! Such dedication. And, I'm assuming there are so many plaids, because they are from worn out men's shirts? (Some recycling going on here?)

Dawn
In beautiful Northwest Montana

Marvelous Margo,
It's a copy on all the comments, your expert skills and knowledge will bring these special quilts to a new beginning.
Thanks so much for sharing!

Good point about the fracking, Lots of that happening in MT.

Terry