I think they are ties

A friend brought this quilt top to sewing last week and it knocked our socks off! The top was in Lawrence briefly with another fellow quilter, who had offered to bind it. It belongs to her sister-in-law Kay in California. Kay believes it was made by a cousin of her mother, Mary Ann Black, who lived from 1852-1930. The family reports she was never married, was known to make quilts, and is buried in a cemetary a few miles south of Girard, Kansas.

We are lucky that Kay does the family genealogy - she plans to see if there was a tie factory in Crawford County, Kansas that might have generated the fabric.

Here's a detail of a few blocks. They do seem to be pieced with strings of silk. The corners are velvet embellished with some embroidery. It's in perfect condition.

It is pieced on a fabric foundation, and being able to see that really helped date the quilt. It seems to match the years when Mary would have been quilting....

It is good to know a wonderful top like this has a good, appreciative home.