Old But Modern

Years ago my mother-in-law, Martha, gave me a quilt block her grandmother made in the late 30s or 40sand asked me if I knew anything about the pattern. Martha told me her Grandmama Keaton had either seen a quilt or a quilt block somewhere, was intrigued with the pattern and tried to duplicate it. As far as I know she only made one block just to see if she could. 

 

Every so often I would find the lone orphan block stashed away in my quilting room and wonder what to do with it. This spring it popped up again when I was straightening my fabric shelves and I thought I should just make a little mini quilt and and give it back to Mom L as a little reminder of her Grandmama.  I found two solids in my mothers fabric stash that were perfect for the borders to complete the block.  It was nice to do a little hand quilting after all the machine piecing and quilting I have done lately. But seriously, could I do anything but hand quilt such a treasure? 

The thing I like most about this little mini quilt is that the pattern and colors are so popular right now. Red and aqua, solids and circles are all over the Internet. All the young bloggers are making "modern" quilts using these elements. It tickles me that in quilting there is really nothing modern. Most things have been done before. It just takes a new generation to discover them.