The "Ladies Dream" Quilt!

This is quite a quilt! It all began when my cousin, Bonnie, showed me this lovely appliqued top she had gotten from an auctioneer. She had helped with an auction and he gave it to her for helping! I love a story behind a quilt! I just wish we had known who the maker might have been. She asked if I would quilt this for her upcoming grandsons' wedding. It has recently been gifted, so I feel it can be talked about now!I kept this quilt hanging for awhile when I first received it. I wanted to study the shapes and really figure out what type of quilting it needed. I wanted to keep in the era as much as possible. The workmanship was exquisite and I made sure to take photos of the back because even I didn't want to cover it all!YES! This is the back. Meticulous! Such perfect, tiny stitches. The back looked as good as the front!I was more than excited to find this catalog on Ebay! It gives some history, but you can also find information on the Mrs. Danner's Quilts website. Mrs. Danner created a mail order business for her patterns out of her home in El Dorado, Kansas. Founded in 1930 and later sold to Helen Ericson in 1970. Unfortunately, the owner has retired, so finding a pattern may be difficult. I'm guessing this top was made in the 1930's or 40's, due to the cotton prints.This is a fabulous vintage photo from the catalog, showing Scioto Imhoff Danner stitching on the very likeness of the quilt I was quilting! I know I squealed when I opened the small catalog and saw this.I started the quilting with the computer, something never imaginable back in the 1930's! I wanted something big and beautiful in the negative spaces. I knew I should do some traditional cross hatching, which became somewhat of a nightmare across this large quilt!Once I started the crosshatching, the quilt came to life! This may sound crazy, but I needed some vintage inspiration, so this quilt started my marathon watching of "Downton Abbey". I bet I watched two full seasons during the quilting, which gave me a sense of the time period and put me in the zone. Hey, whatever it takes to keep going!I used one layer of 80/20 Hobbs Heirloom batting and Glide white thread. I also only ditch stitched the applique as I didn't want to go into the shapes and take away from the makers handwork.  I hope you enjoyed this quilt as much as I have. I quilted this a year ago, so it was fun to take a look at it again. It resides with a young couple now and I hope they will appreciate the history and enjoy it as much as their grandma and myself!