Preserving a family historical treasure

A woman brought me this quilt recently. She does not sew. She hired a person in the guild to piece these 42 squares together. The squares were made by the person's mother, who is now 90, back in 1930! She was 10 years old when the redwork applique squares were made. They are actually more pink than red, but that's in the fine points. I think it is so interesting that either her or her mother held onto them for 80 years! She's surprising her mother with this quilt next month.
(sorry...the above picture is upside-down).
I found the very-printed 1930's reproduction fabrics hard to quilt on. They don't really show the thread or the quilting when it is quilted. I was happy to see some patterning once the piece was removed fron the frame. I unfortunately had to deviate from my beliefs that stippling is hideous and should never be used. Well, it is...but I was in a quandry. I started the outer 2 borders in a very-1930's characteristic straight cross-hatching, but I could not get my damn machine from skipping stitches every now and again. It does this on occasion with lighter weight sandwiches, but I have not figured out how to avoid it. SO...I spent an hour picking out that and decided that since I couldn't see anything I was quilting (and neither the dark rose or the darker blue threads I tried looked good whatsoever!), that the stippling wouldn't be so irritating afterall. Besides, she originally asked that it all be stippled. I did my best sales trick to convince her that there really are more attractive types of quilting, and so on...

It may not be completely representative of 1930's in style, but I think it is pretty. Hopefully if the owner ever calls me back, she will think so too!

Even despite the stippling, the back has a nice texture. Here's a couple close-ups of the embroidery. I love all things that are old and that were handmade, so these are especially neat. Wish this was my quilt!

It's been a mighty odd winter for us in New England. We had one snowfall since January, and it melted 2 days later. The school kids have had only one snow day, and only 1 or 2 others in December (doggone it, they will be out of school by June 12!) While many areas were hammered with record snowfall, we had more 50 degree days in February than I can count. Some Aprils are not as nice as our February was. Just this week alone, we've seen 65F three times. I never see bulbs poking through the ground for another month. Sophie and I spent the morning raking leaves from my front gardens (OK, me raking; her - sitting in her "bird's nest" made from my gathered twigs from the gardens and all the leaves!). I have tried not to get into the mindset that it is "spring" yet, but gosh, it feels like it. My will to go to the basement to sew is quenched when there's a sunny and warm patio to sit by!