Mercy Jane Bancroft Blair's Album Quilt contains blocks signed by people for whom she made clothing in her capacity as a traveling seamstress. Some of the fabrics are likely leftover scraps from sewing project for these various customers. For instance, on February 7, 1859, Mercy Jane wrote in her diary that she received twenty-five cents for making a brown polka-dotted dress for Mrs. Elnina Brown. Mrs. Brown’s block on the quilt is composed of brown polka-dotted fabric.