Neaner

I have just inherited three antique quilts that an Aunt of mine quilted. Her Motherwho would be my Grandmother, was a quilter and apparently taught her to quilt at a young age. Both are deceased and I never met either one of them. A cousin of mine inherited them in a cedar chest from Aunt Vera. They lived in Iowa. Recently my cousin told me after hearing me talking about quilting that she had the quilts and thought they would be better off with me. Two were quilt tops and one was a completed quilt. One top is tumbling blocks and the completed quilt we are looking for the name of the design. I have a Grandmothers Flower Garden and that will be my first top to tackle. One flower was apparently chewed by mice while in storage. I spent 3 days creating a new flower. IT WORKED!!! Our guestimate would be that this quilt is 100 years old. I am also concerned about hand quilting it and what type of thread to use as the fabric seems so fragile in comparison to our cotton fabrics. The flowers are surrounded with white hexigons and I used an antique handkerchief to replace damaged pieces. Those hankies are fragile also and worked out beautifully. That will give you an idea of the texture of some of the fabrics in it. I read article after article about washing them and finally put them in the bathtub with some special detergent and Oxi Clean as suggested in an article. I took the chance and you would not believe how beautiful the colors are and how white the white is now. I dried them over the porch railing. If you could help me decide what thread to use I will soon be ready to sandwich Grandmothers Flower Garden and quilting. I think it will take me forever to quilt it but I am so thrilled to be taking care of it. I would appreciate any comments you have.