My grandma (father's mom) made quilts as far back as 1905 on a treadle -- I know because I had the quilt dated. She pieced on that machine until 1967 when she could no longer see. She hand quilted her tops, but she must not have liked doing the hand work much because they are quilted very far apart and the batting has shifted over the years. Only one of the quilts that I have from her early years has had the fabric dissolve -- it was made in the 1930's and my mother-in-law happened to have the exact scraps in her scrap bin from a dress she had made for herself in the 1930's from her mother's stash -- go figure! When I took the quilt to an appraiser to date it (the fabric was from the late 1800) I showed them the scraps and the story behind them -- she was floored. She told me if I wanted to, I could applique over the shredded pieces or I could put net over the shredded pieces -- I opted for the applique with a note on the back telling what I did.
I started quilting myself in 1972 making baby quilts -- some whole cloth and some copies of Grandma's quilts using cardboard templates and scissors and tying them. In the early 1980's I go my first quilt book -- a copy of Eleanor Burns Log Cabin I found in Goodwill. My first bed quilt had a king-size sheet for the top and bottom and a poly batting -- and I embroidered the whole top (the sheet was a printed scene). It took me a year. I then went to work and put quilting aside since I was making clothes and working. In 1999 I retired and took up quilting again -- WOW how easy it was compared to what I had done years earlier! The rotary cutter, cutting mat and plastic rulers are a godsend -- and not I am trying to learn my way around a Go Big since my hands don't like to use the rotary cutter very much. I am glad to see all of these changes.