Quilts have been made since the seventeenth century. Early textiles were very precious and every scrap was saved to be reused. A quilt is a combination of fabrics joined to a filler and a backing by small stitched designs known as quilting. An appliqued quilt has pieces stitched to the top of a large piece of background fabric. A patchwork, or pieced, quilt is made of many small pieces stitched together. Embroidery can be added to either type. Quilts that have dark spots , when held up to the sun, are said to have cotton seeds left in the cotton, a proof of age. This is not true. A cotton seed is large and hard and even homemade cotton batting is carefully cleaned of all seeds or debris by the quilter.
