king. The keen competition engendered results in the
most exact and painstaking work possible being put upon quilts that
are entered for the "blue ribbon." The materials, designs, and colours
chosen for these quilts are given the most careful consideration, and
the stitchery is as nearly perfect as it is possible to make it.

Some of the finest old quilts that have been preserved are repeatedly
exhibited at county and state fairs, and have more than held their own
with those made in recent years. One shown at an exhibition of quilts
and coverlets, held in a city in southern Indiana in 1914, had been
awarded the first premium at thirty-seven different fairs. This
renowned and venerable quilt had been made more than seventy-five
years before. Its design is the familiar one known as the "Rose of
Sharon"; both the needlework on the design and the quilting are
exquisite, the stitches being all but invisible.

A striking instance of the influence of fairs upon quilt making is
shown in the number of beautiful quilts that have been made expressly
for display in exhibitions at state fairs in the Middle West. One such
collection, worthy of special notice, consists of seven quilts: three
of elaborate designs in patchwork and four made up of infinitesimal
pieces. Every stitch, both on the handsome tops and in the perfect
quilting, was wrought with careful patience by an old-time quilt
maker. The aggregate amount of stitching upon these seven quilts seems
enough to constitute the work of a lifetime. The material in these
quilts, except one which is of silk, is fine white muslin and the
reliable coloured calicoes of fifty years ago.

This extraordinary and beautiful collection is now being carefully
preserved by an appreciative daughter, who tells how it was possible
for her mother to accomplish this great task of needlework. The maker
was the wife of a busy and prosperous farmer of northern Indiana. As
on all farms in that region during the pioneer days, the home was the
centre of manufacture of those various articles necessary to the
welfare and comfort of the family. This indulgent farmer, realizing
that his wife's quilt making was work of a higher plane than routine
housekeeping, employed two stout daughters of a less fortunate
neighbour to relieve her of the heavier household duties. Such work
that required her direct supervision, as jelly making and fruit
canning, was done in the evenings. This allowed the ambitious little
w