My mom started cleaning out spare bedrooms in my grandfather’s house. That house is stuffed full of stuff from floor to ceiling in every room. I had heard that my grandmother was a quilter so I always wondered if there were any quilts around. She quilted when it was out of fashion. My mom stayed with her as a small kid in the early 50s and remembers church quilting parties once a week at the house. They made quilts to send off to missionaries, etc. Sounds like the kind of things I do.

In one closet she found a group of quilts. Some were in such bad shape that they fell apart when they were picked up. But these ones are holding together so far. All but one is unsigned and not dated.

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This is a crazy quilt. The interesting thing about this is that the back is tied but the ties don’t come through to the front. I’m not sure how or why that is.

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Another strange things is that most of them are not scrappy. These quilts were made with purpose-bought fabrics.

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I love basket quilts. This one shows a whole range of conditions – from almost rotted in the top left to fine in the middle to faded at the bottom.

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Here’s the cool one. It is a common lily pattern. But it is signed by Mrs. Stewart and dated June 1849. We have no idea who Mrs. Stewart might be or how the quilt ended up in my grandfather’s house. But it shows the importance of signing and dating quilts!

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It is in bad shape but you’d be too if you were 159 years old. The white in the lilies isn’t pattern. It is the batting showing through. Mom is going to do some research into how to take care of them.

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