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"Children at Play" Quilt

(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
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Unheated bedchambers meant cold beds. Bed rugs and quilts were one way people kept warm while sleeping. Quilts were decorative as well as useful. The process of sewing a layer of wool batting securely into place between the front and back pieces is called "quilting." The maker of this quilt used two large pieces of printed fabric imported from England. The technology for printing large designs on fabric was unavailable in the United States at this time. The pattern, an idyllic vision of "children at play," extols the playful, non-adult innocence of children. The children play typical games for the period--they "drive", play battledore and shuttlecock (similar to badminton today) and fish.

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