Quilts/quilting Archives - Appalachian History

They would put up a quilt

The ladies would cook dinner, & maybe 5 or 6 of them would quilt. They would put up a quilt. And then, maybe, they’d have a square dance.

Thrifty farm wives nationwide had known for years that the common cotton bag— fondly nicknamed chicken linen—was a great source of fabric.

Blue Ridge VA resident Mamie Bryan quilted during the winter months, setting up her quilting frame in the living room near the fire.

“Thar’s one quilt here my grandmother made. Hit’s the Wilderness Road and I’ve got it in my head that she made hit up herself.”

A new exhibit on quilts opens July 1 at the Montgomery Museum and Lewis Miller Regional Art Center in Christiansburg, VA.

Developed by Thunderbolthost