V's Antique Blocks

Some years ago my sister's roommate V, knowing I quilt, showed me a bunch of unfinished quilt tops that her Grandmother had made.   After she passed away the family found them in a cardboard tube hamper labeled "Dirty Close".  V's sister had rejected the tops as "too ugly".  I was smitten by the complete wonkiness and make-do and selected 5 tops.  Sadly, they are all still tops except for one.  I loved the Goose in the Pond blocks but hated the sashing/setting fabric, so I took them apart.

I believe these are all made from cut up clothing or leftover scraps.  The double pinks, navy, and black combo makes me think these are pretty old, maybe from the late 1800's. Some of the triangles are pieced to make up the width.

 They are all hand pieced and definitely not precise. This is the best one.  It is *almost* square :)

 Some have the bars turned the wrong way.

 The stitching is fairly neat but it looks like kitchen twine was used, it is so thick.

There is no way this block will ever lie flat, but I like it anyway!

 Definitely the craziest of the bunch. Look at all the "make do" in that one. There are eight Goose in the Pond blocks--and they are big, variably about 16-18" square (I use the word square lightly!)

In the original top--which unfortunately I don't have a photo of--this ninth block made a 3x3 layout.  It was obvious at first glance that it didn't belong with the others.

Flipping it over proved the suspicion correct--this was machine pieced and of much better construction, though the fabrics are still pretty old.  It might make a great looking pillow, though.

This was the original sashing fabric, along with some really stained and dirty blue chambray that I ended up throwing away.  I'm wondering if the Goose in the Pond blocks belonged to the the generation before V's grandma and she made this one to expand the layout. My idea is to applique the blocks to a plain background.  I saw an antique quilt at a show once that had blocks in the double pinks, blue and black that had an alternate plain block that was olive green.  It was very eye-catching.  I would probably have to tie the quilt rather than quilt it, as nothing will be flat. First these blocks will need to have a bath!