A Reminder Of Everyday Dangers

Not all quilts are particularly beautiful or especially well made, but are nonetheless treasured in memories of the maker.The maker of one quilt brought to a Discovery Days session was a homesteader in Dakota Territory. Cooking on an open fire as many new homesteaders did, her long skirts caught fire. Thinking quickly, her daughter used one of the family quilts to smother the flames and save her mother’s life. Although the quilt’s maker later died of an infection, her family trimmed off the burned portions of her quilt and rebound it — passing it down along with her story.

This story was preserved as part of the North Dakota Quilt Project