I'm involved with a local historic preservation group here in my county, and we had an open house yesterday at the historic antebellum house that is the central structure of the park, which is the Shoppach House. One of the quilts we had on display there was the one shown below, and it is my favorite in our collection.

It was made by Xalisco Stribling Brents in the 1880s, so is about 120 years old. She was born in 1837 in Georgia, so would have been about 40 when she made this. She died in 1910 at the age of 73 here in Saline County, Arkansas.

The documentation we received with the quilt says that there are 10,875 pieces in the quilt and 169,700 stitches. I doubt that number is exactly accurate due to the roundness of the numbers, and am guessing someone counted the pieces and stitches in one block and then did the math considering the number of blocks. Nevertheless, it is a stunning quilt.

[IMG]http://i1018.photobucket.com/albums/...tribling_1.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i1018.photobucket.com/albums/...tribling_2.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i1018.photobucket.com/albums/...tribling_3.jpg[/IMG]

I laid a set of keys on the quilt to give a sense of scale of the pieces. They're tiny! :shock:

[IMG]http://i1018.photobucket.com/albums/...tribling_4.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i1018.photobucket.com/albums/...tribling_5.jpg[/IMG]

That is so beautiful and in great shape! :D and all those tiny pieces!!!! thanx for sharing that . Seeing things like that just makes me love quilting even more

I have no idea. But if I were to guess, I would say that it would be pronounced Zuh-lis-co.

Also, I forgot to mention that we had a quilt appraiser come through one of our open houses a couple of years ago and she was floored by the quilt. She said it was easily worth 4 figures. Everyone who comes through the open houses always gasp when they get to this room and see this quilt.

that is amazing what patience

OH*************************** Be still my heart***********

Awe, I am in awe. It is stunning!

Stunning doesn't even begin to cover how beautiful this is! Thanks for sharing!

That is probably one of the most amazing quilts I have ever seen. Thank goodness it was preserved and didn't end up used as so many end up!!

That is beautiful. Don't they worry about it being so close to the window? That would worry me.

We don't leave it out on the bed all the time. It is normally kept packed up. We only bring it out during the open houses, which are a few times a year.

This is so beautiful and I am in awe of the patience shown by its creator. Was this quilt passed down to you from a family ancestor?

MY goodness-what a stunning quilt. It's candy for the eyes....thanks for posting such a treasure.

Beautiful quilt & to extra special to get to know the history/particulars.

wow, I love it, 120 years old and looks that good! It looks better than some ppl :lol:
Do they take precautions to keep ppl from touching it? I wash my hands a lot before handling fabrics and aida cloth for cross stitch.
Thanks for the history on it, it really give it a place, a when, etc. The picture with the keys is great, too!

wow :shock: beautiful quilt. showing it with the keys really put into perspective how much work this quilt entailed. awesome

Absolutely gorgeous! Is that pattern Seven Sisters?

What a beautiful quilt thanks for sharing it Eddie. A quilt from the mid 1800's I love history and the Civil War era is one that I truely treasure. I have made period correct quilts from that era you are so lucky to have seem one up close.

Beautiful quilt. Imagine all time it took to cut and sew all that together by hand!!!
I think it might be pronounced "Halisco" I have seen a name or two where the Z had an H sound

It is stunning! Can you imagine the patience that went into that masterpiece? I would have been bored after the first few blocks! I'm so glad the quilt maker kept going!

That is beautiful! Look at those little tiny star points!

WOW!

Wow. This quilt is amazing. When I saw the title of the thread I expected something really scrappy, and this just blew me away! It's so pretty- and all made with none of our fancy new tools!

I am so jealous of you that you got to touch it! And the keys really put it in perspective- good idea!

Oh my !!!!!! That is beautiful, more than beautiful, oh my!!! I don't want to look at it too long or I might get it into my head to do one like it! It would be just like me, to tackle something so unbelievable. But I am so slow I would still be working on it 10 years from now. I wonder how long she worked on it, oh what determination! Thank you for sharing, I think!

Wow!!!!! What a beautiful treasure you have there.

FABULOUS!

Riley

How beautiful! I was also wondering if it was a Seven Sisters. It is absolutely beautiful! Thanks for sharing! :lol:

Oh my! Thank you for sharing. What a treasure. :D

Thank you for posting this quilt. Your photography and information really put this treasure over the top!

I did a Google search on the lady who made this quilt and came up with the following interesting information about her:

Mr. BRENTS lost his first wife, and in January, 1868, was married to Mrs. Xalisco DICKENSON, an estimable widow, and daughter of Robert STRIBLING. The lady was born in Georgia, but came to Arkansas with her parents when three years old, and settled in Hot Spring County, where her father and mother both died. One child was born to her marriage with Mr. BRENTS, Lily.

Stunning! Absolutely stunning.

Wow, that's a lot of hand stitching!!

what a beautiful quilt...thanks for sharing.....

What a fantastic quilt, Eddie---

You know it's just not the number of stitches or the
size of the parts---it just seems perfectly "composed"--
color and design are so satisfying to the viewer

someone said it was eye candy and I couldn't have
said it better! :lol:

It does make you wonder though about the maker:
did she make a lot of quilts, how long did this one
take, where are her others, how many years did she
actually quilt in her life---one thing is sure, it must have
been something she really enjoyed!!!!!

Pretty amazing quilt! It's nice to know there are treasures like that being taken good care of! Thanks Eddie for showing us!! How would you like to be the person counting all those pieces and stitches? Wonder how many times they had to start over??

Eddie: That is simply amazing. What a treasure.

Holy Quilt-a-moly!
That's beautiful!!!

That is the most amazing quilt. I can't believe how small those pieces are. Thanks for putting the keys there to compare. Thank you so much for posting this.

Eddie this is sew beautiful! The work that went into this is outstanding. I would give this a 20 out of 10! lol

The hours alone to cut out the fabric and then all the placement, the stitches, the stitcher, and the consistancy in stitching is just awesome. You wonder who it was made for, why she made it, what she was thinking as she made it, and how long did she take to make it and I wonder how much it was used or if she packed it away.

Thank you for sharing, Eddie.

Eddie that is breathtaking! What a wonderful thing for you to be involved in. Like many others have said, it would be wonderful to know how long it took, how she cut the pieces (scissors I know - no rotary cutters back then!) It's such a piece of history. Thanks so much for sharing.

Eddie that is so beautiful!
Thank you for sharing it
with us.
Look at all those PERFECT
points! Wow!

VERY COOL!!!