Originally Posted by
AnnieF
I will never understand why someone gives a "quilt top" as a wedding gift to someone who doesn't quilt. The guilt of trying to figure out what to do with it must have been weighing on you for all of those 50 years. If it had been me giving the quilt top, I would have found someone to quilt it and given it to the bride as a finished quilt.
In days of old brides were given tops TO quilt, especially if the husband was far off working and the bride was behind with neighbors too far away to visit. There was no television or diversions and often not even books. Quilting was by hand and was a time filler. A gift of a top also gave the bride something to meet new community with for a "quilting" at her home. The tradition of giving just a top carried over without the attached reasons. Probably Auntie saw this done as a young child as well as received some tops for her wedding and had good memories of the needs they met within her early days as a bride.