I was told at a lecture at the library on antique quilts that many times they use an old quilt as a batting for a new quilt top. The old saying is "waste not...want not. It was a very interesting lecture. They asked that we take our old quilts with us and she would tell us something about them. I have 2 old quilts so I threw them in a large grocery sack and took them along. One was dated CIRCA 1920 and was probably a memory quilt for someone's parents or grandparents because the fabric used was from both a woman's and a man's clothing. The other on was dated 1860's to 1870's. The oldest fabrics were from the 1860 being the double pinks and some of the other prints. The newest fabric was dated 1876 and was a print put out for the United States Centenial. Needless, to say, I did not throw them in the grocery sack but carried them very carefully back home with me.