Restoring Dazy's Quilt

First, a gratuitous bit of autumn colour. I think this tree is called Liquid Amber - it has maple-shaped leaves and these delightful spiny seed pods.

And with nary a segue, on to the quilt! I did all the stitching by hand, although machine would have been far quicker, as I wanted to preserve the integrity of the quilt. I found an old cotton sheet that was quite close to the pink I needed. I didn't mind so much that it wasn't a perfect match as I knew there would be a noticeable difference between my stitching and the original anyway. I wasn't aiming for an invisible patch job, but for a repair that could be seen to be done with care and, hopefully, skill.

First, I made a template of the teardrop shape, cut fourteen of them from the pink sheet, and basted them in place on top of the damaged border.

Then, I applied a thin, finely woven cotton to the back, cut around the edge from the front, and pinned and basted that in place.

I somehow lost the picture of the next step, which involved whipstitching the two layers together around the edge of the original quilt. It was a bit like making a pocket for each scallop to fit into.

Next, I quilted over the original quilting lines. This was hard because the old fabric had shifted a lot, so I did the best I could, but my stitches aren't remotely as fine and even as the original.

I tried to mend some small holes on the white part of the border as I went. Here I did some darning on an isolated worn spot.

This section had multiple shreds, so I have basted a patch in place that will be stitched down.

I was going to leave the edge of the strip as a straight line, but now I think my final step will be to trim and whipstitch the backing fabric to follow the zigzag border. More work, but I think it will blend in better.