Thank you to everyone who left comments and sent me emails about the quilts I found yesterday. I was so excited to find them, having looked for years. And my excitement reached new levels this morning when my early start was rewarded with a third quilt!! Thank you for your enthusiasm, it is lovely to be able to share these treasures with such an appreciative audience!
Are they handmade? Yes , entirely handsewn and handquilted, the filling is wool.
Are they in perfect condition? – they differ quite a lot. The red with gold flowers is very worn with some patches and holes; the paler quilt with small red roses and mustard backing is in very good condition, it has a couple of small stains which I shall deal with once home; and the red quilt with striped backing I found today is in remarkable condition.
29 comments
hahaha nice post
i love the dog.. i love bouti's 2 have 3 really old now.. all pink and creamy 🙂
Nice week!
Something about old quilts just gets me everytime and how amazing to find ones with such age, I always imagine who it was that made them, who did they use it for, so on and so forth, I love the history and these quilts are just gorgeous! Xo, Ashley
What beautiful finds! But I especially loved the photos of Gatsby. We had a dear Westie, who was our beloved pet for 15 years. Yes, those Westhighland terriers are way too cute!
Gary's is gorgeous! Love those floral quilts… Those quilts are a great find!
Ces courtepointes sont trop jolies!
The quilts are so beautiful ..what a wonderful find ..
That little Gatsby is adorable! Beautiful quilts!
Those are really gorgeous and Gatsby is a doll.
Your quilts and Gatsby bring beaucoup de smiles!
xoxo, Chris
Sharon,
Gorgeous, a few years ago I was so searching for pieces like this while visiting France. Love them and Gatsby is so super cute!!
All the best,
Christina
Fabulous find! They are amazing, I myself have a thing for quilts and the older the better~Cheers Kim
One the eve of me departing Paris, you are killing me with these photos!!! France is such a gorgeous country….I think I shall use the flight home to plan my next visit….lol! Fabulous photos once again….thank you.
I love how these precious animals seem like you pose them perfectly in front of whatever you are photographing! Are you perhaps "The Dog Whisperer?" 🙂 Gatsby, like all your babies,too, is simply adorable! And the quilts…now you may have sparked an interest in me that has never been really sparked except for one that my grandmother made and that I now have! These are really pretty and, of course, I love that they are so old!
Thanks for sharing some of the fun that you are having in the South of France! I love it, and it really makes me want to go back! Looking forward to tomorrow!
First Gatsby is too cute for words…second the pictures in that first picture are just breathtaking and in fact each of these pictures looks right out of a magazine shoot…fabulous!
<3
Oh, they're beautiful. I would pile them on my bed and probably never want to get out from under them again!
Dear sharon, thanks, as ever, for the lovely (in several ways) posting. As you'll know, I keep west highlands, along with one very young just-past-puppy-age cairn thatHerve gave to me for my birthday this past year. Just this afternoon, new neighbors (I'm the one who's just moved here) came to visit. We sat in the big kitchen, and the dogs did their usual thing….which is to line up silently, as though it were a military file inspection, and simply STARE at the guests….with those inscrutable (as one friend has termed them) black eyes. The neighboring wife was rather un-nerved by this (I gather she'd expected "cute" behavior, but I don't raise or train my dogs to be "cute" and bouncy). She asked me "Don't they ever move?", and I, not thinking, immediately answered "Not until they've figured out whether you're a good or a bad person…if you're a bad one, they'll attack you. they're mainly watching me; don't worry…"
That is, in fact, the truth….but I don't think she liked it much. She rather huffily said "Wait….your dogs BITE?", and I (suddenly considering that I hadn't INVITED these folks over) said "Oh….just be glad you're not at my parents' house; my mother keeps chows and dobermans….."
So much for "cute"….for all the west highlands and southern boys and accomplished French doctors in this household, we don't don't manage to score very highly on the "cute"-scale.
amusedly,
David "Please don't grab at one of my dogs and act as though it's a toy…or you'll be sorry" Terry
They look so beautiful..I would love to have them at my house..
Beautiful finds and I love old quilts! I don't blame you thinking about selling or keeping…that the dilemma I face every time I find a huge fabulous mirror. And the answer is I still have all of them!:)
Hello Sharon!
I have a big passion for boutis even if the original, handsewn ones as these are a bit expensive for me right now. But I surely know they worth every single penny they are asked (you do not mention a price but I know the market!!;-))! What pieces you have there!
I would keep them all for myself! Very selfish I know but I could not let them go!
Fra
I dont think Gatsby could get any more cute! So happy you finally found what you have been looking for with the quilts. They look amazing!
A lovely and informative post. Beautiful photographs.
~Emily
The French Hutch
Quilts! + these are so beautiful. Thanks xxpeggybraswelldesign.com
Ces boutis charmants me font sourire. Ils ont l'air provencal, sans aucun doute.
They are all beautiful. What a great fine. Enjoy them weather you keep them or just sell them.
Sharon i love this post
What is it about quilts? we all seem to love them, old and new.
Your dog is such a good poser, how long as Gatsby been doing photo shoots?
bee x
I'd be very interested to know how you successfully clean the quilts. I have several in my family, one of which is over 100 years old, and we have my husband's great-great grandmother's quilt which dates from the 1800s although it is altered because, incredibly, her great-granddaughter left it to spin in an electric washing machine which destroyed sections of it. (My own mother was the one who painstakingly salvaged it, making new batting and reverse cover; it turned out fabulously for its value as a family treasure.) About 20 years ago, my spaniel peepeed on a favorite quilt and it was a wreck. We placed it in the bathtub to soak in gentle suds, then let the bathtub water drain, filled it up again to rinse, etc. On the last draining, we then gently blotted the quilt with as many clean cotton-terry towels that we had, getting enough water out so that we could haul it (so heavy) to the green lawn outside, spreading the quilt on a thick clean cotton bed sheet covered with more clean cotton towels, then putting another sheet on top of it to protect the fabric and dyes from the sun's rays. It came out okay, although it took forever to dry. Some of the quilt squares pulled slightly loose (ancient cloth) but I think that was more from trying to hoist it. I never put it out again because I figured I could never wash it again, although I've been thinking it would look nice displayed on a quilt rack. As a little girl, I loved it on my bed for the purpose intended; it was cozy (cool in summer and warm in winter).
What's your secret? How do you clean quilts? Do you just spot clean? Do you sometimes eschew cleaning for just airing them? I do recall being in the Swiss Alps and seeing quilts thrown halfway out the upstairs windows of small storybook-looking homes on warm, spring days, I assume in an attempt to refresh them from winter use. It was a lovely sight, straight out of a travel brochure.
Oh my, I WANT the one at the bottom of the pile!!! really really want it!
Hi I like the quilt on the first one on top where the dog is standing bellow (in the pile role you are showing)
How much would it cost
Please let m know
Walter