Best Thrift Store Quilty Find Ever!

Last  Monday was Family Day here in Ontario, a day off work to get out with the family and enjoy winter activities. It was very sunny and we could hear the snowmobiles out on the trails. Beckwith County turns one of their forest walking trails into a skateway in winter and it was in top form.  This is one of the four we walk with Ned sometimes. It winds for over a kilometer through thick woods so it would be a unique and fun skating experience. 

I heard my first morning bird song of the season on Saturday morning. It was a cardinal singing so the season is turning or at least the birds think so.

I must get right to the mystery item that gave me such a surprise and thrill to find at a local thrift store on my very first visit to it. 

It is this beautiful quilt below, of Baltimore Album genre, which I have been admiring and examining  ever since it came into my hands. I photographed it in my bedroom which is darkened so sorry about the lighting. Here on my queen sized bed. 

No label or name anywhere. The applique is all hand stitched, as is the quilting. The sashing is machine stitched on the back, folded to the front and hand stitched. It is beautifully sewn with gorgeous batiks used throughout.

When I first put it in the cart, I assumed it was a machine sewn mass produced type item- you know the kind, but lovely and large enough for the spare bedroom double bed.

But no, it is genuinely hand stitched with a number of those beautifully ruched and specially folded flowers.

You can't see it but the tail feathers of this bird has gold threads sewn between them. Could that be a clue as to where it was made? Was that a pattern suggestion for embellishing it maybe?

And this interesting block with two headstones.

The quilt has that overall crinkly kind of feel and look hand quilting gets when washed too. 

And it has been washed a number of times and has some give way in a few seams but overall is in immaculate condition. It feels old to me. 

And here was the price.

How are you feeling about this? At home, seeing what it was with a less than $20 price tag, my heart sank at first. But then in my reading I found out these kinds of quilts are being mass produced with hand stitching too, kind of like knock offs. So maybe this could be that but I don't think so. And especially as it was sitting in a nearby small town, the one where I go just to visit the quilt shop.

I would be so happy to hear your opinions, all of them, not forgetting to please mention which particular pattern is this too. I've looked for that unique block and can't find it anywhere. Thank you in advance! 

Do you believe in fate? Could it be fate that I was meant to find this quilt somehow. Doesn't matter... as you all know, I love it and am delighted to give this beauty a good home. 

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