plaid scraps

I've been playing with leftover trimmings of the Bordello/Bargello quilt of a few months ago. I had 1/3 yard of a great red Kona Cotton that worked well for internal frames. Bonnie's recent quilting into the night was an influence, as were my friend Mary's wonderful improvisational quilts.
It is sitting at this stage for a while until I decide if it needs to be bigger.

road to oklahoma

After the Oklahoma City City bombing in 1995 a group of us on QuiltNet held a fundraising raffle. Participants sent in a fat quarter of fabric plus a $5.00 check made out to the American Red Cross. The fabric was split into 75 piece, 50 piece, and 25 piece parcels and $750.00 was raised. This was a great way to handle a fund raiser.
I received the 75 piece bundle. It was not a happy packet to get, and I decided to make a sober Road to Oklahoma quilt from the fabrics. I selected the browns and tans, added more of my own. I really love this quilt. One of the kids hauled it out for use this week and I was flooded with memories of that time.

An aside on underlying structure in scrap quilts--note the rust diagonals one way and dark tan the other, the rust narrow border on two sides. tan on the other two.

documentation problems

My neighbor Margaret died this winter at the age of nearly 90. She moved into the house in 1953, and was instrumental in making the block a neighborhood, helping start the Women's Club and the block party.
Her children have been taking apart the house and gave this quilt to me. There is a yellowed card with it:
"Quilt made by Mary Shogrin as a young girl. Circa 1905"
This was Margaret's grandmother's name and she was from Kansas.
I think the quilt is actually earlier than that, as the fabrics look 1890s and it is hand carded cotton batting. But mostly, I think it is wrong because the date and the age of her grandmother don't sync.
Margaret's grandmother would have been a young girl in the 1800s. Her mother may have been young right at the turn of the century. The card is the only thing that links it to 1905--the hand made batt, fabrics, and name associated with it indicate it be earlier.
Even with documentation, dates may be off.
I have totally lost when I made some of my quilts. They don't all get labels!