Wednesday, November 14, 2018

Seventy Year Old Dresden Plate Quilt Top

Finished a special project. This was a quilt top made by Harold's Aunt Gladys in Arkansas years ago. She put it together when she was first married from the better pieces of clothing in the rag box when every scrap of material was saved for use. Gladys sewed the print pieces on her treadle sewing machine and the white pieces were from feed sack muslin - cut and sewed by hand to fit around the circle called the Dresden Plate. This might have been when Uncle Elmer was in the Korean War fighting with the marines. Gladys was a young bride in her early twenties, milking close to a dozen cows by hand twice a day. I can imagine her on lonely nights sitting under a single light bulb that hung down from the ceiling working to piece this quilt and many others while she worried and waited for her husband to come back from the war. I quilted the top to the back and know the 70 or plus year old quilt to be fragile. Even covered up a couple of mouse holes with some of my own scraps. So this quilt will never be used but will be on display in my living room as soon as I find a quilt rack. So knowing the hard work and sacrifices women make in time of war I felt that Aunt Gladys deserves the credit for this quilt. On the back is her name and the year 1950 which is just a guess to date the quilt. Thank you for your service Elmer Powell and Thank you Aunt Gladys for your strength to keep the home fires burning for two long years.