MORGANTOWN — Somebody stole a quilt that’s almost 100 years old from the Mannington Fair Saturday.
Betty Bland, owner of Quilted Treasures Longarm Quilting Services in downtown Mannington and the quilt’s owner said she’s had the quilt for 30 years and in that time almost every member of her family has slept under it.
The 72-year-old said the quilt was behind a 6-feet-tall enclosure and she believes someone tall reached over and took it. She believes the quilt was taken between 1:30 and 3:30 p.m.
Bland called the quilt beautiful and said it’s made out of feed sacks and muslin. She explained that in the 1920s and ‘30s women would save the sacks that flour and feed came in and make clothing, washcloths or “well, everything” out of them.
The companies learned this and started printing the sacks with designs.
Bland said the quilt is unique and the thief won’t be able to sell it. The value at a flea market or similar wouldn’t be high enough to make it worth stealing.
Even if the goal was just to own the quilt – the thief will have it keep it under wraps.
“You can never show it to anyone because it’s so recognizable,” Bland said.
Mannington Police Chief David James said Bland has not filed an official report yet. She said she talked with an officer at the community center where the quilt was stolen and thought that was enough. She plans to file an official report.
Anyone with information on the quilt can contact Bland at 304-669-9031.
She said she would love to have the quilt back and asked whoever took it to please leave it at her shop door.
“Please bring it back. It can’t possibly have any more value to anybody than it does to us.”
