The Redo is Done

I finished reassembling the quilt top I was remaking.  Whee!

Doesn't she look pretty dancing in the breeze?  Footloose and fancy free!  (I'm going to have to Google the origin of that phrase, word nerd that I am...)

I am so happy that I went ahead with redoing my grandmother's quilt top rather than stuffing it back in the tote.  If you missed the other posts about this quilt top, including block by block comparisons, you can find them here, here, here, here, and here.

The four-lily block in Grandma's quilt was the inspiration for the Thoroughly Modern Lily quilt pattern.

Here's the original quilt top, made by my grandmother in the late 1960s or early 1970s:

And the updated version:

Another before and after comparison:

Before

After

The original quilt top would not have withstood quilting or use in its condition.  There was some bleeding of the green fabric dye into the white parts, and other problems with most of the solid colored parts of the old quilt.  However, all the prints used in the lily shapes within the blocks were in good condition.  The vintage fabrics were like a little time capsule.

I took each block apart and rebuilt it, using stash or scrap fabric in place of the solid colored cross pieces.

Grandma had used a lot of red, in seven of the block centers, which I replaced with various other colors instead.  I put some of the red back in via the cornerstones in the sashing.

The multicolored sashing/border print seems to tie it all together.

Special thanks to Quilt Diva Julie for the inspiration and encouragement.  Her remake of "Shirley's Journey" got me thinking of the possibilities.  Also thanks to Elizabeth for sending me a bit from her stash to finish the last block.  Quilting friends rock!

Now it's time to whoop it up with Sarah and the gang at Confessions of a Fabric Addict!