I'll Fly Away!

I'm pretty excited about this! I got a great bargain at the resale shop on this beautiful twin size airplane quilt. I've seen the airplane pattern, but never have seen one of the old quilts. The fabrics are mostly stripes and almost all different. It has a few holes and some fraying on the edges but, to me, that just adds character.
As I looked at this quilt I got really curious about the history of airplane quilts. Obviously, they didn't date back to the 1800s, but I know that this one is pretty old (probably from the 1st half the the 20th century) so I started doing some research.

The first airplane quilt block pattern appeared in 1930 to commemorate Charles Lindbergh's solo transatlantic flight in 1927. I think my quilt might be later than that time period, but was probably sewn within the next 20 or 30 years. The more modern airplane quilt patterns I've found are much more 'arty', and have a more contemporary rounded shape in applique. I'll be interested in finding out more about airplane quilts in the future.