A Quilt Collection Copycat

When we were in elementary school, being called a copycat was a bad thing.

Now we have Pinterest.  I waste spend so much time surfing Pinterest, finding really cool things that other people have done, pinning them and daydreaming about how wonderful they'd look in my house or garden.  Every once in a while I even do one of the projects I've pinned.  Being a copycat isn't bad any more, it's an extension of 'imitation is the highest form of flattery'.

With that in mind, I say, "Thanks, Bargain Hunter".  A while ago, my good friend and partner in junking posted pictures of her awesome sunroom and her massive collection of Fiestaware, Pyrex, mid-century glassware and quilts.  She displayed her quilts in a double-wide white kitchen utility cabinet and they looked so good that I wanted one, too.  Here's my inspiration, from her sunroom:

She sold me a cabinet she had when she closed down her booth that was just perfect for quilts.  This week I (finally) cleaned it up and moved it in to our bedroom, the only available space in the house.

Because the cabinet had a fair amount of rust, I cleaned it well and put contact paper on all the shelves.  I thought about getting one of the pretty patterns they have now, but in the end opted for white, so that the quilts could be the stars.

Here it is filled up.

Most of them are ones that my great-grandmother or grandmother made, but a few are ones that I've bought at estate sales or antique malls.   The red poppies at the bottom was made for us as a wedding present by my grandma and the blue & white block one on top of it was made for me when I was a baby by my great-grandma when she was almost 100!  She was getting forgetful, so it's kind of thin on batting in a few places and one of the blocks is upside down, but that makes it even more precious to me.

My favorites are the the feedsack crazy quilt top (unfinished) and the airplane quilt, both from the 1930s and 1940s.  The barkcloth quilt (under the airplane quilt) is one that Bargain Hunter picked up for me at a garage sale because she knows how much I love barkcloth.  I've taken it to the mall 3 times to sell and brought it right back home each time, so it's here to stay!

The one standing up on the top shelf is the baby quilt that our great-grandmother made for my sister (and for me, by default).  The little quilted pig is just a sweetie I bought at the antique mall.

I was surprised at how many quilts I had when i started gathering them from all the places around the house where I had them squirreled away.  I was also surprised at some of the really poor-condition ones that I'd apparently spent good money on.  What was I thinking?  I know where those cutters will go -- into Pinterest projects!