I also recognize a few of the fabrics and know I bought a couple in 1980, to make dresses for my then new-born niece.

I would say 50-60's. I have a quilt, I bought, at a yard sale, last year. And the people said her mother done it in the 50-60's. If you are a hand quilting, I would say hand quilt it. Keep it together--hand sewed, and hand quilt. My curiosity is--let me know what you will do hand quilt/machine.

I think "big stitch" hand quilting would look very good for this one!

I can't imagine the time it will take to hand quilt this quilt. But I love it. Whoever made this worked a very long time hand sewing. All of those blocks and then putting them together. But, if you have the time??? it will be really fine.

Thank all for the great suggestions. I will probably hand quilt it. It is quite large quilt. It will cover my king size bed. I thought maybe 60's or 70's fabric also. I will have to wait until I retire in a couple of years before I can start to quilt it.

I guess I am going to be contrary. It is a very nice top and someone spent some time on it. But with the variety and difference in the fabric, hand quilting is not going to show. So for me, done is better so I can use it. I would machine quilt it.

I would also guess 50's and 60's. Lots of scrap quilt tops like this are made from a scrap collection spanning decades. It could be a real mix. It is worth checking for pieces used that may not be as sturdy and stand up as well as others.

Please don't wait till you retire to begin hand-quilting this. If you do a little at a time... you know... slow and steady wins the race. :o Just enjoy the process.

Took me a year to handquilt one of mine. Enjoyed every minute I worked on it.

Yup, I'm sorry, it needs to hand quilted. When you think of the quilt and the period it was made in, it only seems natural to HQ it. Then it would be true to it's period. If you work an hour or so everyday, it shouldn't take no more than a month or so. I would do lines ( goes with the period.)

I love the quilt top, but would definitely machine quilt it. It's waited long enough to be finished and loved, and machine quilting won't hurt it (or you) at all.

I have a quilt that my grandmother made around the 1930's 1940's. She didn't finish it, my mom inherited it and stuck it in a drawer for 30+ years. I inherited it and found a LAQ who let me rent some time on her LA. I no idea what I was doing, but I didn't want it out of my sight and that was the only solution i could come up with. Now that I know what I'm doing, I can see how horribly it is quilted!

However, even with my awful quilting, it looks better done and on a bed than it ever did locked away in a drawer.