Great Design, Great Stitching, Weird Fading

A friend was unexpectedly given this quilt along with some other Freecycle things she was picking up.  And guess who she thought might like to adopt it!

I love the design of this quilt!  The combo of center star, inner borders, log cabin surround, scalloped edge, feathered heart quilting - masterful.  On top of that, the quilt is extremely well-crafted.

The story that came with the quilt is that it's Amish-made.  The craftsmanship certainly bears that out.

It's a keeper, but it's also a lesson in careful quilt care.  There is lots of fading overall, plus one corner of the border is quite mysterious.

All I can guess is that maybe the quilt was left with a fold at that corner for a long time.  So now there is a dark, unfaded triangle.  The opposite bottom corner has a similar unfaded triangle, but much fainter.  The rest of the borders and fabrics are faded with a gradual gradation, so the color change is not as noticeable.

When the quilt is folded so the two sides are closer together, the difference between the two sides gets pretty obvious!  It's kind of like one of those color matching illusions.

It's also interesting to notice that the two blue prints and the red centers all faded a bunch, but the large floral and the blue on white print hardly faded at all.

So I'm thinking:  The quilt was in a guest bedroom that had no guests for quite a while.  There was a window facing the lower left corner of the bed.  And there were those precisely draped corners.

Lesson to learn:  Pay attention to storage and display set-ups before damage happens.

Otherwise, the quilt is in perfect condition.  Not surprising, if my hypothesis of not being used for a long time is correct.

Even with the fading, the quilt is still a stunner!