I agree with Eddie, too. That's what I would want if there was something in progress when I pass.

Welcome! Sorry sorry about your Mom!

I think completing the tops made by your mother is a fine idea if that is what you want to do. My caution was about the silk one only. Silks of that period will not hold up to any kind of use at all. They were colored and treated with metals with no thought given to archival properties. At it's best, silk is a delicate fiber when new. Yours is 130 years old.

I have to chime in, too. I agree with Eddie...if you want to donate an old quilt top to a museum or something, then by all means leave it unquilted. Are you going to sell it? I doubt it, so the "value" issue of leaving it unquilted is kind of moot. If you are going to pass it down through your family as an heirloom, then it will have more "value" to your family as a finished quilt. It will not only make it easier to "maintain" the condition of the quilt, but it can be displayed in a much more pleasing way. Who wants to look at a ragged edged quilt top, unless it's framed behind glass with the edges tucked under?

It's totally up to you, but if they were mine, I would finish them the way the maker would undoubtedly have done, and then hang, drape or otherwise display and enjoy them.

I like to think the ladies who made the tops are up in Heaven looking down, thinking, "Ah, now my work is finished!" :thumbup:

Welcome to the board from Southern California!!!
I am so sorry to hear of you loss!!!

I see the points all of you are making. :) However silk at that age is probably not very stable and that is the reason I suggested not doing anything with it. Perhaps get the opinion of a fabrics professional. :)

I agree

I agree too, however if it is strong enough to finish and you choose to do so I say only hand quilt a top that old. The original quilt if finished when peiced would have been and IMO that is the only way to finish a quilt like that.

So glad you joined the board and so sorry for your loss.

I recently finished 6 quilt tops that had been made my friends grandmother. It was mostly old clothing and he recognized his mother's dress, his dad's work shirt, etc. He gave each of his siblings one and kept one for his son. I think they are priceless memories and was happy to be a part of preserving them.

So my vote is...finish them. However, I have no experience or comment about the silk top!! :)

I'm chiming in again. We know that you probably are not going to sell it but the framing thought would be good if of course its not to big and you have a wall that size. Sotherbys (the guys from the road show) says a finished quilt is more valuable. They say "an unfinished top should not be worth anymore than $100.00" Its the quilting part that is the value. I have a quilt from 1849 that is in the family. The Smithsonian museum in DC offered us $44,000.00 for it. We're not giving it up but I am reproducting 4 of them for the family then they can get it. Not until then.