Crazy Quilt, Posted on Monday, December 15, 2025

When I hear the word, “quilt,” I think of the one my mother left me. It has a pattern of blue baskets on a white background. 

Quilting has been around for thousands of years, but the idea is always the same.  A quilt has three layers, a decorative top layer, some padding, and a plain backing. The three layers are held together by rows and rows of tiny stitches. 

The end product is not only practical, it provides the creator or creators with an opportunity to show off their ingenuity and skill.

A lot of quilts are unsigned, and we know nothing about who made them or why. Others are handed down from generation to generation along with the story of their origin and maker(s).

I do know who made my quilt because her name is printed on a small tag attached to the backing. Her name was Betty and she lived in Arkansas.

I have often thought about Betty. How did she decide to make this particular quilt? Was blue her favorite color? It was my mother’s.

Betty made her quilt by cutting what we call whole cloth into shapes and then stitching the shapes back together into a repetitive and decorative pattern.

But how do you make a quilt if all you have is a bag of scraps left over from other projects such as clothing or draperies? 

Behold, the crazy quilt.

Back in the late 1800s, five women got together and created the quilt you see here. It was too small and too fancy to be used as bedding. Most likely it would sit in the parlor and be used as a lap robe on chilly days. Now it hangs on one wall in the Scott Family Collection. 

Unlike my mother’s quilt, this quilt has the names of the makers worked into the pattern. See if you can find them. If not, I have provided their signatures to the right of the quilt.

They are Sue Lizzie Kerr Scott, Mamie White Scott, Margaret Graham Scott, Lizzie Kerr, and Lizzie Kerr Atkinson.