I really don't know a lot of history about it but as well as I can tell the quilt dates back to the early 1800's. I found it in a plastic bag among my mother's quilt pieces after she passed. I don't know...maybe she was going to try to finish it. It's amazing when you see all the hand work and artistic talent that went into a quilt that never got finished....some lady must have spent lots of long winter nights working on it.