t yellow, and
sometimes indigo blue. These and these only are considered reliable
enough for a patch quilt, which is made for the generations that come
after. The making of such a quilt is a work of oriental patience."

[Illustration: ORIGINAL ROSE DESIGN MADE IN 1840

The maker was lame, and only able to walk about in her
garden. Colours: red, green, pink, and yellow]

[Illustration: PINEAPPLE DESIGN

Colours: red and green]

"Applique work is thought by some to be an inferior kind of
embroidery, although it is not. It is not a lower but another kind of
needlework in which more is made of the stuff than of the stitching.
In applique the craft to the needleworker is not carried to its limit,
but, on the other hand, it calls for great skill in design. Effective
it must be: coarse it may be: vulgar it should not be: trivial it can
hardly be: mere prettiness is beyond its scope: but it lends itself to
dignity of design and nobility of treatment." The foregoing quotation
is from "Art in Needlework" by Louis F. Day and Mary Buckle. It is of
interest because it explains how applique or "laid-on" needlework
ranks with other kinds.

After all the different parts of a quilt top are either pieced or
decorated with applied designs, they are joined together with narrow
seams upon the wrong side of the quilt. If a border is included in the
design it should harmonize in colour and design with the body of the
quilt. However, in many quilts, borders seem to be "a thing apart"
from the remainder of the top and, apparently, have been added as an
afterthought to enlarge the top after the blocks had been joined. In
old quilts a border frequently consisted of simple bands of colours
similar to those found in the body of the quilt, but more often new
material entirely different in colour and quality was added when
greater size was desired. Many old quilts were three yards or more
square, generous proportions being very essential in the old days of
broad four-posters heaped with feather beds.

[Illustration: QUILTING DESIGNS

(a) Diamonds
(b) Hanging Diamonds
(c) Broken Plaid]

The top being completed, the back or lining, of the same dimensions as
the top, is next made of some light-weight material, usually white
cotton. The quilt, to quote the usual expression, is then "ready for
the frames." In earlier days the quilting frame could be found in
every home, its simple construction making this p