Quilter Finishes Vintage Quilt for Complete Strangers

Story originally published by the Herald Net.

You know the saying-one person's trash is another's treasure. This proved to be true for 59-year-old Karyn Nilson when she rediscovered a box gifted by her mother that was filled with vintage fabric scraps and 61 hand-sewn quilt squares. The box was purchased at a garage sale years before, but Karyn knew that her findings could potentially mean a lot to someone else, despite the fact that they were given up.

"I just had this desire that I had to find somebody," Karyn told the Herald Net. "I didn't feel right keeping it to myself if someone in the family wanted it."

And she already knew who that somebody was. The box still contained its shipping label, so she knew that the items somehow belonged to sisters Alice Kelly, 105, and Rosemary Hostetler, 91. After making some calls and posting to social media, Karyn was put in touch with Rosemary's son, who then arranged for his mother and Karyn to speak on the phone.

The information Karyn learned took her back to a different time period. The siblings' mother, Elva, made the squares while they were growing up in a Mennonite community in Indiana. Dressmaking fabric scraps were never thrown away, and instead were used for other projects (including quilts).

After Karyn sent pictures of her creation to the family, they insisted that she keep it for herself. A lover of antiques and their history, this quilt will fit right in with Karyn's collection.