by Mark Perkins
The journey continues! Our antique quilt from Depression-era New England is less than six months away from settling in someone’s home in present day California. The lucky person’s name will be drawn at the NVGS Holiday Reception on December 11, 2024.
Raffle tickets can be purchased by stopping by the NVGS library during open hours or by sending your request, payment, and address to info@napagensoc.org. Tickets sell for $5 a piece or three for $10.
Kept with love, the quilt has been in my father’s family for nearly a century. The name of the artist is not known for certain. She was one of several women living in Massachusetts or Maine. We do know her heritage stemmed from the British Isles.
If you look closely at the quilt, you will notice successive rows built around a single square in the center. This design, called Around the World, found favor with quilters during the Depression because it could be made with small pieces of fabric. Scrap quilts enabled their makers to avoid the cost of expensive fabrics.
The other feature that makes this quilt unique is the size of the finished squares. While traditional finished squares in this pattern measure 1 inch, this quilter produced finished squares of 1/2 inch! Experienced quilters have marveled at the time and persistence it took to create this stunning work.
In NVGS’s 50th year of researching family stories, we hope you will consider making this quilt part of your family’s story. Your home might be the next stop on this quilt’s magical journey through time.
