Colonial History Quilt Pattern designed by Ruby Short McKim in 1926 for the American Sesquicentennial

The quilt, labeled in embroidery on the back with “Lois, 1927,” was made as a baby quilt for Lois Graf by her mother. Her parents, Christian and Emma owned a grocery store in Dubuque, Iowa where Lois grew up. Lois was an only child and never married. She spent her career as a music teacher in the Kenosha, Wisconsin school district. She gave the quilt to her neighbor (date unknown), Bonny Havican who, after her move to Sun City West, AZ, had it appraised in March of 2017 ($675). In 2019, Bonny sold the quilt to Margaret Lau Simmons, also a Sun City West resident. In 2020, Margaret replaced the binding and added quilting to each of the white squares to stabilize the quilt (perimeter of each square and around all the embroidery).

The quilt is backed with white cotton muslin. The batting is a thin flannel sheet. Three of the sides of the quilt are scalloped and the top is straight. The hand quilting in the blue sashing and border is even but large (4-5 stitches/inch) and spaced 1 1/2” apart. The quilt is in very good condition with only one small stain on the right lower leg of the man in the pioneer block (#20).

Colonial History Appraisal, https://kora.quiltindex.org/files/51-149-97/ColonialHistoryAppraisal.pdf
Colonial History McKim Layout, https://kora.quiltindex.org/files/51-149-97/ColonialHistoryQuiltMcKimLayout.pdf