BLUE CAT QUILT JOURNEYS HOME

It's said cats have nine lives. Perhaps that's true of the Blue Cat quilt that returned home to Castleton after 32 years of adventures that took it from Poultney, to Augusta, Ga., to Williston. The history of the quilt began in 1976 when a group of women decided to do something special to commemorate the bicentennial, reports the Rutland Herald. The theme was based on Catherine C. Coblentz's 1949 book "The Blue Cat of Castle Town." The blue and white quilt has six applique squares that depict three historic Castleton landmarks, three highlights from the book, and six geometric squares inside a border.Helen Nesbit of Poultney, who won the quilt in a raffle, gave it to her son who lived in Augusta, who in turn gave it to his son, Robert, who lives in Williston, who gave it back to the people of Castleton. The quilt will be displayed in the home of the Castleton Historical Society along with stories from the quilters and those of the Nesbit family who has been its caretaker all these many years.