Heirloom Treasure

I am not sure what year this quilt was made, but I know it was hand-pieced and quilted by my great-grandmother, Emily Joella Pruett Butler and her oldest daughter, Emily Mary Ann Butler.  It is feedsack, and has always been one of my treasures.

 The quilt is lap-size.  I think the size was a determination of just how much material they had right then, because the top is "cut-off" to accommodate the size of the backing which has been curled around from the back to make the border.  It's a shame that some of the front was lost in this way.  One thing I absolutely LOVE about it, are the colors and the way they work with the design.  All of the background triangles are green.  All of the little squares are blue, either light or dark (and just a few pink).  All of the stars are red or pink.  It looks like they were put together randomly, and that makes it all the more interesting.  I know that each woman had to have pieced each square by hand from a basket of cut-out pieces, and then in the end, put it all together.  So, one didn't really pay attention to what the other was doing, necessarily.  The design follows a perfect pattern, but the randomness of the lights and darks is what makes it so much fun!  I adore the bright red against all the light pieces in the one square, and that right next to it is a light star with darker pieces around it.  Two totally different "looks."

 And look very closely at the top left of the folded quilt.  There is a light green triangle that was pieced with a piece of darker green, because I guess they ran out of light green and needed just that tiny little bit more of the green to make that triangle!

This quilt is proudly displayed in my living room on a quilt stand given to me one Christmas about eight years ago.  I used to have the quilt across the back of my couch when my daughter was small, but it's been protected in a pillow case since then, waiting for a chance to display it again.