Small red berries combined with conventionalized leaves.
This quilt has captured first prizes at many state
fairs]

"Portions of discarded uniforms, old coat and cloak linings,
brilliantly dyed worn flannel shirts and well-worn petticoats were
component parts of quilts that were needed for warmth. A magnificent
scarlet cloak, worn by a Lord Mayor of London and brought to America
by a member of the Merrit family of Salisbury, Massachusetts, went
through a series of adventures and migrations and ended its days as
small bits of vivid colour, casting a grateful glory and variety on a
patchwork quilt in the Saco Valley of Maine.

"Around the outstretched quilt a dozen quilters could sit, running the
whole together with fanciful set designs of stitchery. Sometimes
several quilts were set up, and I know of a ten days' quilting bee in
Narragansett in 1752."

The women who came from Holland to make their homes on the narrow
island at the mouth of the Hudson were housekeepers of traditional
Dutch excellence. They delighted in well-stocked linen closets and
possessed unusual quantities of sheets, pillow cases, and bedding,
mostly of their own spinning and weaving. Like their English
neighbours to the north, in Connecticut and Massachusetts, they
adopted quilted hangings and garments for protection against the
severity of winter. Their quilted petticoats were the pride and joy
of these transplanted Hollanders, and in their construction they
exerted their highest talents in design and needlework. These
petticoats, which were worn short enough to display the home-knitted
hose, were thickly interlined as well as quilted. They were very warm,
as the interlining was usually of wool. The fuller the purse, the
richer and gayer were the petticoats of the New Amsterdam dames.

While not so strict in religious matters as their Puritan neighbours,
the early inhabitants of New Amsterdam always observed Sunday and
attended church regularly. Within the fort at the battery stood the
church, built of "Manhattan Stone" in 1642. Its two peaked roofs with
the watch-tower between was the most prominent object of the fortress.
"On Sunday mornings the two main streets, Broadway and Whitehall, were
filled with dignified and sedate churchgoers arrayed in their best
clothes. The tucked-up panniers worn by the women displayed to the
best advantage the quilted petticoats. Red, blue, black, and white
were the favourite and predominating co