Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Colbert's Journal tells of his dining at one Richard Manning's "with a number of women who were quilting."
From The Fair Play Settlers of the West Branch Valley, 1769-1784 A Study of Frontier Ethnography by Wolf, George D.
And there were quilting parties and housewarmings and house-raisings—one that was of great importance to Caleb Hazel and to Chad.
From The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come by Fox, John
The principal social festivals were "quilting," "apple paring" and "husking."
From Peter Stuyvesant, the Last Dutch Governor of New Amsterdam by Abbott, John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot)
In one of our strolls in the town of Tonneins," says he, "we entered a house where a number of girls were quilting.
From Four Famous American Writers: Washington Irving, Edgar Allan Poe, James Russell Lowell, Bayard Taylor A Book for Young Americans by Cody, Sherwin
