Life keeps happening, even in a Pandemic

While we all have "stuff" happen, during this darn pandemic it seems to be more like "STUFF!". This past month has brought more than our share of health blips and some home repairs to our household. It also brought the death of my only male cousin--and when you only have 2 cousins, that is significant. The first of our generation to die. My sister and I (our brother lives 2,000 miles away) decided that we needed to support his sister at the funeral. So we both drove, from different directions, 3+ hours to meet up in his town with our surviving cousin. After a distanced funeral service at the church, we helped her go through the family heirlooms he held. My surviving cousin is looking toward moving into a condo in the next couple of years, so she wasn't wanting to claim many--my sister and I became the "keepers".

One item my cousin gave to me is this velveteen/velvet/corduroy crazy quilt made by our grandmother. It is all hand pieced, hand embroidered, and tied---like almost all crazy quilts were done. The bat is actually an old army blanket. The backing and border is a drapery recycled from our grandmother's house. It weighs about 40 lbs (seriously!), has never been used, can not be hung to avoid stitches popping---and I wouldn't change it for anything!

So here is what I know about displaying antique/vintage quilts (this one doesn't qualify as antique quite yet).

1. No sunlight! these quilts deserve to be in that dark room

2. don't hang on a wall! Put on a unused bed, or fold over a quilt stand--goal is to not cause the weight of the quilt to pop stitches

3. Very dirty/stained quilts can be washed by machine (no agitation) with a special soap like Restoration, or put in a plastic laundry basket and swish up/down in a bathtub. Lay flat on a sheet or plastic to dry--a fan will speed up the process. If laying it outside to dry, be sure it's in the shade--and your pets don't make it a bed!

4. Can't get wet? (like this quilt) lay a clean window screen over the quilt and vacuum with the upholstery attachment.

5. And like ALL quilts--if you can't lay them flat, be sure that you are refolding with different fold pattern at least 3 times a year--the goal is to not "set" creases that cause the fibers to weaken.