This small quilt that came to me for repair is a family heirloom with a touching story.   Here's the story as told by the owner: Thanks so much for restoring this quilt.  It was made for my grandfather around 1962-63 after he suffered three consecutive heart attacks.  Two women who worked in his accounting practice made the quilt, so it is precious to me. What made the repair fun for me were the fabrics. The fabric with the most disintegration was probably silk, given the nature of the damage.  But the rest are probably rayons.  (I didn't do any fiber testing bec ..read more

A flash of inspiration birthed this quilt.  It celebrates the wedding of two of my daughter's super super good friends.   They married last fall with a destination wedding in Italy, a gorgeous setting.  This quilt is my rendition of a photo taken on The Day.   The inspiration continued throughout the design and construction.  Having decided on the layout, and enlarged and traced the photo, I had my pattern.  Then I started choosing the fabrics.  The right ones just flew into my hands.  I made only one edit! That's a pretty good omen, don't ..read more

  The owner sent me these photos of her gorgeous crazy quilt for an initial assessment.  She and I decided not to do any repairs at this time.  However, it's such a beautiful quilt that I wanted to share it, and I am grateful that she has allowed me to share her photos. It was made for my great great grandfather John Davis Cassada when he was born by his mother Lucy and his aunts.  Many were single or widowed from the Civil War.  All the initials are attributable to family members.  They were very thrilled to have a male in the family and used many 'fancy' scraps ..read more

  I am fascinated by this quilt.  It was brought to me for minor repairs by the granddaughter of the quiltmaker.  (Thanks to her for the photo above.)  Not only are the design and fabrics really interesting, but the stories about the woman who chose them are great, too. First, the design.  I don't remember ever seeing a quilt like this, with it's plain, all-white center panel with a frame and the deep appliquéd drop around the sides of the bed.  Have any of you seen such a quilt?   My mind wants to place it in the 1960s and as a pattern found in a women ..read more

  Hi, everyone!  I'm announcing a new video on my YouTube channel.  It's a bit of a tour of my quilting studio and fabric stash. You'll see fabrics, new art quilts, and loads of doo-dads.   Click here to access the video. Please come visit!   (You can also find my channel and see the whole video collection, and my interview on the Just Wanna Quilt podcast, by searching in YouTube for my name - Ann Wasserman ..read more

So yes, I guess I have to admit to working on lots of things (too many?) at the same time.  Here's what ended up on my work table by the end of the day on Saturday: Clockwise from upper left: Across the top:  Two baggies of sheer fabrics for textile conservation.  They are soon to be pressed and cut into square swatches be included in the supplies samples kit for my upcoming workshop.  (Preserving Our Quilt Legacy Virtual Workshop) These are mostly covering up a little quilt, nearly completed, a wedding gift.  You can see just a bit of blue sky and wood grain fabric ..read more

My next virtual workshop on quilt restoration and conservation is coming up in 2023 - Saturdays from Jan 18 - Feb 23 to be precise. Here's a little holiday fun for you.   What do these things have to do with taking care of vintage and antique quilts?   Two-step greens? https://www.vecteezy.com/free-vector/tap-dance" Tap Dance Vectors by Vecteezy   Straw needles? Insect pins? Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Come to the workshop and find out!    There will be lectures, triage sessions for participants' quilts, how-t ..read more

 I've set the dates for my next Preserving Our Quilt Legacy Virtual Workshop!  *** January 28 - February 25, 2023 *** The sessions will be held on five consecutive Saturdays, 3.25 hours per day, via Zoom.  Various shorter "alá carte" options are also available.   I started working with old quilts, when my love of "old things" joined up with the discovery of the wonderful world of quilts.  I have met wonderful quilt owners, historians, and restorers, and I feel I have also met wonderful quilters of the past through their quilts.  I have learned all sorts of fasci ..read more

  I've got a new quilt repair video up on YouTube!  This one looks at an Improved 9-Patch brought to me for repair by my friend Pat.   (You'll find a few other videos there, as well as an interview with me on the Just Wanna Quilt podcast.)   It's a lovely quilt, in both design and stitchery skills.  The video highlights the decision process I went through in picking the patching fabrics. You can also visit a post on this blog about this quilt.  It's a great quilt, one of these where I ended up photographing pretty much every fabric in the quilt ..read more

  Here's one of my favorite summer dresses.  It's so bright and cheery! A week or so ago, I had it on, glanced down, and noticed two little stained spots.  Oh no!  I soaked and rubbed a bit, to no avail.  Oh no, again!   So, there was nothing for it but to head on over to visible mending and find a way to cover up the stains.  Since the stains are so perfectly the same size and shape as the flowers, it didn't take long for me to decide to add a couple of new flowers and leaves. I found some scraps of fabric really close in color.  I traced a flower and ..read more