Amazing quilt and story and amazing you for sharing it with the world thru donation. It is a gift that will live on many years into the future.

What a great story - so much history! Thank you for sharing the story and the quilt.

Fascinating and a lovely piece of history, you were so generous to donate it

WOW, what an amazing treasure !! Tks so much for sharing this heirloom & its' story.

Jan
Thank you so much for the two additional updates. The quilt is indeed so lovely even in its fragile stage. I do think a book would be cool. Of course if would be nice to know personal histories about the individuals associated with the quilt. It would not be easy to research these individuals but oh so fascinating.
Best wishes in any of the endeavors you might undertake.

Very lovely quilt. It would be wonderful if there was a pattern of it.

Such a family treasure, thanks for sharing it!

Jan that is a beautiful quilt and a wonderful story. I was most interested in the family provenance. I also have Collier ancestors who were in Surry County VA in the 1700s. Perhaps we are cousins.

Thank you so much for sharing. It is hard to realize there is a quilt that old, in the US, and you have documentation on it. I love history. I love quilting. This just intrigues me. Amazing!!

Thank you for keeping this alive. That connection, from so long ago, is what makes us who and what we are today.

Thanks for sharing the provenance of this amazing quilt! What a treasure.

Amazing piece of history. Lovely quilt.

Thanks for sharing the amazing quilt. What a treasure to be able to document in your family -- so wonderful that you gifted it to some place that can preserve it!

How wonderful to have such a lovely quilt with such a long provenance. Over two hundred years old. Wow.

What a great story, and an amazing heirloom quilt.

How very fascinating...first to be able to track family, let alone a quilt. In the history it mentioned a plantation..portobello plantation..is it still in existence. Do you have any other things from your ancestors?

It is amazing and with those different borders and styles, it almost sounds like a round robin.

That is so exciting! What a great legacy!

What a wonderful story and fabulous quilt. Thanks for sharing.

Very interesting! Thank you for sharing this information and quilt with us!

I bet the person who made this quilt way back then would never have guessed just how special it was going to be.

Thanks for sharing.

That's amazing, Jan!

Portobello was on Queen's Creek, on the York River side of I-64 as it goes by Williamsburg toward Newport News. The property now is the highly secure government property known as Camp Peery. I had just arranged to receive a guided tour to explore the old home place (used as a training area for special forces apparently at some point) when 911 occurred and the whole Tidewater area shut down tight. I moved back to TX before I could make another try. We do not know the actual boundaries of the original property owned by Thomas's father John Collier. (John, by the way, was a British surgeon who had served in Africa, of all places.)

Jan in VA


I'll really bet we are related!! How cool is that, to meet here rather than thru Ancestry.Com, LOL! I'll look around for the family genealogy book and PM you with the names from the maker of this quilt - her children. There were more than one Collier family in Virginia at this time, though; I had the impression they were all related.

Jan in VA

What a wonderful treasure...

Awesome! Donating this was a very very great thing! More generations will see how lovely this is!

What a wonderful part of your family history. Thank you for sharing with us. Now this heirloom quilt is forever protected. What an amazing legacy!

This is so interesting and captivating. Just think all those borders and quilting styles and applique and stitching was done by needle and thread! How amazed little Miss Martha would be to know that we are admiring her work all these years later! I should be so lucky!

Thank you for sharing the story, pictures and link to museum. Spent a rainy evening looking and reading about some of the wonderful quilts at Williamsburg. What a treasure!

A treasure indeed...thank you for sharing...

Marvelous quilt. Just beautiful. I'm not seeing 10 borders. Are some of them the same fabric?

Fantastic quilt.

Yes, some of those counted were not pieced borders. But each was quilted in a different pattern.

What a fabulous story. I think it is awesome that you donated this to the museum so that others can share in it, as well. The fact that this looks as good as it does and has held up for so long is almost unbelievable. Even after all this time, it still looks beautiful.

Your heirloom quilt and story are great! You've got a great piece of history and quilting in your genes!

Beautiful ! It totally amazes me how on earth did they ever color and design and make material way back then!

What a treasure you have donated :)

So glad you have this family treasure and were able to share it with us! We can keep your memories alive when we post them on sites like this and others.

what a rare treasure. Worth more than gold.

Oh! This is so fascinating! Thank you for sharing this whole historic adventure. It just gives me goosebumps to think of all the people who have enjoyed this quilt and been part of its history. Now it is being enjoyed and appreciated by somany more in a whole different way. Thanks so much for your generosity!

Isn't that so special.

thanks for sharing