Great-grandma Cooper's Quilt

This quilt top was originally put together by our Great-grandma Cooper.

The story of this quilt, as best as we can all remember, is that Grandma Cooper (she is our dad's grandmother) asked our mom if she would want it and finish it, as her eyes weren't good anymore. So our mom took it, and then she decided that she wouldn't ever finish it either. I don't know how long our mom had it before it came to me. Great-Grandma Cooper died in 1979. So the quilt top is OLD! And we think that I've had it since then as the first little alphabet patchwork quilt I had done I made in 1979 (when I was 13 years old--I don't know if I really want to admit my age, but oh well.) Mom and I think that because I had made that patchwork quilt, I was all gung-ho about tackling this one.

Here are a couple pics of my 1979 alphabet quilt made when I was 13. My daughter had been using it on her bed during the Winter.


Well, I have been hauling Grandma Cooper's quilt top around and storing it for all these years. (30 yrs!!)

It was intended to be a bedspread for a full or queen size bed. However, I have already removed the excess border as I knew that no one would ever use it for that purpose.

This may be my favorite lady on the quilt, with her feather print dress. We talked about splitting the quilt up into 4 smaller quilts, or pillows, as there are 16 ladies, but our mom didn't really think we should do that.

Some of the applique was coming loose, even though it has never been used. So I worked on doing that. All of it was appliqued in black which I didn't like. However, picking it out wasn't really an option. I did a small section and the fabric had bunched a bit under the zigzag and so I just went over top of the black, with whatever other color I had chosen for the ladies. That may not have been the wisest choice, but I really didn't want this quilt to fall apart the first time it was washed, or used, or whatever.

I guess I'll keep plugging away at it until I really decide what to do with it. I'd like to get it finished completely so that we can enjoy it, or if nothing else, at least honor her memory by having it complete.

If any of you quilting diehards have any other ideas or suggestions I'd certainly be open to them. Although none of us are really into having quilts for display only, I would like to have it out and used if possible.