Antique Family Quilts
 

My mother inherited these quilts with the passing of my grandmother. I got them given to me when I started telling my mother what she needed to do to take care of them. Mom just smiled and said why don't you just take them now, you'd get them eventually anyway. The only condition is that they can never be sold. The first one is the oldest, made in 1872, as a baby quilt for my great-grandfather by his mother. It was the very first thing she sewed on her very first sewing machine...she even machine quilted it. It's made with 5 different red shirtings for the blocks. The 2nd one is dark blue (with small white stars) and white. It is a community quilt made by the Ladies Union Aid Society in 1889 (written in the corners of the quilt) and includes the names of more than 320 people (including about 50 relatives) living mostly in Stephenson Co, IL or Green Co, WI. The patch work is not the greatest (completed by hand) but the quilting is very nice. There are 2 red & white quilts that I have no information about when they were made or by whom. The plain red is a Jacob's Ladder set on point and the quilting is very nice in diagonal lines. The blue and white quilt bears a label saying that it was handmade by my great grandmother and her mother. I believe Hattie did the piecing and her mother quilted it. It is very, very finely quilted with fans and hearts over the patchwork and a wave pattern in the border (matching the border of the community quilt almost exactly). My mother says that this quilt was always on her grandmother's bed and even in my earliest memories of the room that my great grandmother had at my grandparents house, I can remember the blue and white patches. Unfortunately, one section is badly sun faded from the window. The last two are string quilts made by Hattie for my mother and her twin brother. Both are machine quilted. I feel very blessed to have received these quilts and cherish them dearly. My grandmother sewed every day and made the most beautiful clothes but she never quilted. As a quilter, it's nice to be able to reconnect with a quilting heritage in my family. I hope you all enjoy the pictures. Thanks for looking.

What a wonderful heritage! You are so fortunate to be able to touch your family history. Very happy for you!

What treasures you have been given. They are all beautiful. The light blue & white star is a pattern I haven't seen before. Thank you for sharing them.
peace

WOW, you need to take good care of those!! How wonderful. :)

Wow, what a lot of wonderful quilts. How good it is to see things that were made many, many years ago and we are still able to enjoy them. Thanks so much for posting them and explaining about them.

Your so lucky to have such treasures.

What precious treasures! It's wonderful that you know so much about them. I love the light blue and white quilt!

Thank you for sharing your wonderful antique quilts!!!!

Thank you for sharing your beautiful treasures! I heard a speaker at our guild saying quilts have been machine quilted for 100+ years. You have proof.

So beautiful! Enjoy them.

Such a wonderful heritage, something to pass down through future generations that will give them that wonderful sense of family.

Oh how lucky you are, I love older quilts.

wow what a lot of great quilts

It is wonderful that these bits of history are going to someone who will truly cherish and appreciate them!

they are all fabulous pieces of history and I am so glad you chose to share them...any chance of them going to a museum? their preservation up to this point is amazing!!!

Your old family quilts are wonderful and what a great treasure to have. I'm so happy for you that they were given to you as you appreciate them. So nice that you know their history, too. Wonderful memories for your family!

You have such treasures! I have my grandfather's quilt -- it is about 125 years old and was machine pieced.

These are amazing! How lucky for you to get them.

those are such treasures! and to know the family history of them is a huge bonus. thanks for sharing the quilts and the stories of them with us.

They are priceless. I love old quilts. Thanks for sharing.

How fortunate for you to have such a wonderful collection of heritage quilts. They are all so beautiful and just so surprising how well they aged. (wish I could say the same for us). My favorite would be the 3rd blue star. Happy to hear your Mother stipulated that they cannot be sold. They should be kept in the family. Thank you for sharing such beauty.

Awesome. These are priceless. Thank you for letting us see a little bit of your family history. BrendaK

one lucky lady, colors don't look too bad

great quilts thanks for sharing them!!

It's so nice to preserve our heritage and hope that our descendants cherish our work as much!

Thank you for showing us your family quilts. I always enjoy the stories and histories behind them. Be sure to write it all down and you will pass it on also.

You got a real treasure!!! What ever you do...write down the stories that you have about these quilt and keep it with them. The stories are as important as the quilts. Include birth and death dates and places if you know them. Any information will help make the family connection with the quilts more important for future generations. The quilts are beautiful. I really think that the old quilts are true works of art. The way they were made is so different than how we make them now and the time involved...priceless. You have been given a real gift!

Neat group of heirloom quilts!

Wow!! What a treasure. And to have the stories with them. So happy for you.

All so pretty...especially the scrappy stars.

Such treasures!!

Oh, my. Such treasures and history. What a gift! That blue/white is stunning and the quilting!

***

Great legacy
I love the 1st red one.
***

What a wonderful treasure you have! So happy for you! Enjoy them!

Thanks everyone for the comments. I am very fortunate to have been blessed with these pieces of textile art and the family history that goes with them. My great grandmother recorded the history that we have on these quilts. I wish I'd had the opportunity to get to know her...we have many common interests including stamp collecting, quilting and a love of family history. Unfortunately, she died before I was 2 years old. Still, her interest in documenting family history has allowed the stories of many of these quilts and other family history to live on. I will ensure that these quilts are maintained and treasured by future generations. Glad that you all are enjoying the pictures. Thanks.

I believe that the star pattern may be called "Annie's Choice"...anyway, that's the pattern that I found that looks like Hattie's quilt. Patterns weren't identified in any of the quilt history that Hattie recorded. I'll have to dig into the history of the pattern and see how the timeline matches up to see if it's possible that they used the pattern or if they merely did a variation on the Lemoyne Star that matches what is now known as Annie's Choice. Thanks for the compliments and the question. This one may be my favorite, the design and workmanship are both excellent.

What a great collection of family quilts. They are very nice!

lucky gal!! those are beautiful quilts!!

How wonderful that you have not only the quilts but the history to go with them. I have a few myself - but no one knows who in the family made them...and that's sad. Document your quilts ladies!!!!...you just never know who will hold them some day.

Oh, what treasures! They are all beautiful, and the hand quilting is terrific. I especially like the pink and blue one.

Leslie