My friend has an old quilt and when she had it appraised they told her it was more valuable NOT quilted but it is YOURS do what you want. I agree IF you quilt it it should be done by hand.

Even if it takes away from the appraisal price, I would hand tie this quilt. It's gorgeous and should be preserved. Definetely write the story behind it and a photo of it before being finished.

Definitely this one needs to be hand quilted. If you can't do it I'm sure it would be well worth the cost to have it done.

I agree :thumbup:

I agree hand quilt it so it is of the period. Machine quilting it takes away the charm of being a beautiful old piece of history. Ask at a museum to what you should do with it first.

I have not washed it, and I don't think I'd better until it's quilted because that would be a lot of stress on the seams. It has quite a bit of both light and dark in it, so when the time comes to wash the finished quilt I'd use lots of color catchers and hold my breath until it was safely on a bed.

I may never do anything with it. It looks nice displayed as it is. Sometimes I consider the possibility.

I have the full name of one of them, but the other was known only as "Aunt Willie", and the woman who consigned it said they called her "Aunt", but she wasn't really related to them, so there's not much to go on. I have a note pinned to it with all the information I know about it, so that both I and my heirs can keep track, and eventually I'll get an embroidered label made for it.