An antique to treasure

I think I might possibly be one of the luckiest quilters ever! I am now the proud owner of a family heirloom quilt that has blocks in it from the Civil War! A cousin of ours, on my moms side, knows I am an avid quilter (not to mention, the only one in the family) and he knew that I'd truly appreciate this quilt for what it is. Some of the details about the quilt aren't quite clear. We know that the blocks were made between 1861-1865 but we don't know when the top was pieced together. The pattern is a variation of Twelve Crowns. Oddly one of the block fabrics matches the border but the fabrics in the original blocks differs from the background fabric. Did they need an extra block to make the top pattern work? Well, we definitely know it was hand quilted in 1984 in Kansas.


There was a note attached to the quilt written with a shaky hand that says, "My grandmother & my mother pieced the blocks in this quilt during the Civil War-- 100 years ago. 1861-65 Stella M Wolf." Stella is my great-great-aunt. Her real name is Sexstella because she was the 16th child.

Since the note itself seems to be written back in the 60's I am thinking she might be the one who pieced the top. The original blocks were hand pieced and the top was machine done.

I don't have all the answers but I do know that I'll do my best to preserve it so I can pass it on to another generation. Thank you for entrusting me with the quilt James!