Friendship Quilt and Quilt Kit
The Friendship Quilt and Quilt Kit (also known as the Friendship Quilt and Kirsten's Quilt and Kit) was originally introduced to Kirsten's Collection in 1987 and modified to include the quilt kit in 1998. The set was retired in 2009 with Kirsten's archival. It is associated with the book Happy Birthday, Kirsten! Retail cost was $18 and increased to $22 with the addition of the quilt kit.
Quilt
Square patch quilt of variant fabrics. Brown knot tying every two squares. Muslin border. Lower edge has black embroidered script: For Kirsten Larson on her tenth birthday.
Quilt measures about 16.5" x 13.5". The ivory border is about 1.75" wide. Individual quilt squares are approximately 1" square.
Kit Quilt
Smaller doll-sized quilt matching large quilt fabrics. Four blank muslin center pieces for appliqué and embroidery. This was advertised as a quilt for Kirsten's Doll, Sari.
Each square on the quilt measures 1" square.
Hoop
Brown quilting (embroidery) hoop with screw closure.
Appliqués
Three heart appliqué patches. One is in Kirsten's blue meet dress fabric; one is a tan fabric with red polka dots; one is a dark tan fabric with a maroon and green floral outline.
Needle
1 1/2" (4cm) silver sewing needle. The needle comes tucked inside folded wax paper.
Thread
Pink embroidery thread. This came in a unique black Pleasant Company wrapper with the logo in gold font.
Instructions
Instruction sheet for quilt kit.
Trivia
- The quilt kit was initially part of Kirsten's Party Treats, and was made a set with the larger quilt in 1998.
- Early editions of the quilt were advertised as "hand-tufted"--that is, the knots on top of the quilt for tying the layers together, also known as tying a quilt.
- Early editions of the quilt kit include a corner square with a floral print and brown background. Later versions of the quilt kit, produced sometime when it was sold with the friendship quilt, have a corner floral square with a white background. This same fabric is used on corresponding later versions of the friendship quilt. This fabric seems to be exclusive to the later editions of this set.
- Fabrics used in the quilt were originally random; later versions used multiple fabrics from various historical characters' clothing. Some identifiable ones are: