Crazy Quilt might not have been made without the death of Alfred Bacheller, Celestine's father. He served in the Thirty-Eight Regiment of the Massachusetts Infantry from August 1862 to July 1863, when he was mortally wounded at the siege of Port Hudson, Louisiana. He is currently buried at the Baton Rouge National Cemetery. Though the quilt is colorful and bright with idyllic ponds and fantastical trees, there are melancholic undertones. Without a father, Celestine was forced to financially support the women in her family and leave pre-war Wyoma behind.