Another book, Quilts of The Oregon Trail....Examples of early quilts would be nine patch, Ohio star, crazy quilts in silks or woolens, log cabins,churn dash... these are just a few. Stay away from whites, or tea dye them when finished... concentrate on old blues, maroons, a watermelon pink and certain greens. Research old fabric in B Brackman's books. Prints were available in two colors and more colors in imported chintz fabrics. The multIcolors of the 30's and to date were not made in early America because of manufacturing constraints.

My personal opnion is to not try to be too authentic buT maybe do the cowboy boot in colorful modern fabrics, or There is a cowboy on bucking bronco applique pattern that would be darling done w fusibles, try it with various small print ground with black cowboy as if in silhouette. I have the pattern somewhere but I bet you could google it and download it free. Or, find a color book and trace something.Make it a fun project. Antoher idea would be vatious branding logos in black with checks or bandana print fabrics. Sounds like an exciting project. BTW, I grew up 19 miles west of Dodge City, KS. Dad homesteaded a farm there.

I believe a few of us will be surprised at the wealth of quilting blocks used in the early 1800s.
Check out some of these images for many ideas.
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...mg.95n35xbDik4

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...mg.9ZdN4Ixmv00

Jan in VA

Well...the quilts may not have been IN the saloon...but I'll bet they were 'upstairs', if you catch my drift...LOL

Hi Phoppe, I just did a quick search on Yahoo and came up with several blocks from the 1870's. I then did a search on google and came up with more. If you search you can see the images and make a choice that way. Drunkard's Path seems appropriate. Tumbling blocks and many more also came up. I searched quilt patterns from the 1870s. Good luck. :):):)

Jan in VA - thanks to the links for pictures of beautiful quilts!

If the quilt is going to be decor then I would suggest a crazy quilt with lots of embroidery as this would be both authentic and lush.

I was thinking the same thing dray965!! Hahaha

Drunkards Path would be fun for a saloon!

I'm not very good at embroidery yet but that does sound neat!