Crazy quilt made with cottons and velvet scraps of various colors, pieces are hand stitched; quilt top was hand quilted to connect quilt top and backing fabric of cotton sateen(?); decorative stitches were done before the quilt top was attached to back; middle square of blue velvet has "Zella" stitched in white thread bordered by a scroll with leaves behind it, many of the other quilt pieces are stitched with decorative floral motifs including blackberries, calla lily, daisy, pansies, daffodils, African violets, lilies, etc; other motifs include a person fishing, a bird, butterfly, appliquéd to one of the quilt pieces is a metallic flower motif; top of the quilt is a strip of gray fabric 2 3/4" wide with running floral vine motif; condition: worn in areas, some stitch loss staining (dark) on backing fabric.; What is colorful, abstract in design, and a fad in the 1870s and 1880s? The crazy quilt! These quilts were part of the decorative art craze that swept the United States in the 1870's and 1880's. The September 16, 1882 issue of Harper's Bazaar announced, "We have quite discarded in our modern quilts the regular geometric design once so popular...Now we are very daring. We go boldly on without any apparent design at all." Silks, cottons, velvets, ribbons, and bits of fabric from wedding dresses and baby clothes were incorporated into these quilts. Decorative embroidery stitches completed the quilt. Because of the hours of handwork involved, projects that started as a crazy quilt often became parlor throws and pillows. By the end of the 1880's the crazy patchwork craze was in decline. This c. 1880-1900 crazy quilt was made by Zella Dulin, who lived near Monrovia, Indiana, and donated by Marylee Leer in memory of her parents, Ora Lee Harrell and Mary Pauline White Harrell.