DeneK

My SIL gave me some of her deceased mother's stash which included some pre-cut fabric for a dresden plate with around 10 blocks finished, batting, and quite an assortment of muslin of various colors and weights.

I thought it would be nice to finish the dresden plate blocks and make a quilt out of them and return to my SIL. That was not as easy as it sounds as her mother was trying to put 18 22.5 degree wedges into each plate circle. This was probably her mother's last quilt -- maybe her age, health or her eyes -- because she did some really beautiful work when she was younger/healthier.

I took her blocks apart and put back together with 16 blades and made enough new blocks for a 6x7 block setting. I finished putting all the dresden circles together in the last few days and decided I wanted to use some of her mother's muslin as base to applique them to. I washed, starched and today ironed them. Her mother had stitched together a number of these approx. 33" squares -- probably intended as a backing for this quilt. I ripped those apart to make them easier to cut into 15" squares. During the pressing of those pieces, I found one with a very faint blue lettering. Upon closer inspection I found that the lettering was this:

100 lb bag
Granulated Sugar
(company name here which I don't remember)
Havana, CUBA

These 33" squares were from old (very old ) bags that were imported from Cuba with sugar in them.

When did we quit buying sugar from Cuba? In the 50's?

The fabric is very strong. No weakness of the threads from being stored so long. There are some age spots and a few stains, but I am still going to use them as background for the plates. I think that only adds to the final project. And I am going to cut that segment with the blue lettering and use for the back.

I just think this is super cool!