Thursday, April 19, 2018

Q - Quilts

For a good portion of my life, my grandmother lived right in our backyard. Not literally in the backyard. I mean, she had a house back there. My mother's mother (Mary Jane) lived behind us when I was very young until I was about 8 or 9.

In my teen years, my father's mother (Margaret) lived behind us. I have many memories of being able to walk out of the house and be in one of their homes within seconds. It's great to have grandparents so close.

Grandma Margaret was a quilter. Most of the time, when you walked into her house, she would be working on a quilt. I have no idea how many she made, but those quilts are everywhere. Every family member has several of her quilts. Looking around, I have two in this room right now.

Quilting is not something I have ever particularly cared about, but I was always very interested in Grandma's quilts. I can remember many times upon walking into her house, she would want to show me her latest pattern. She would be trying something new and wanted to show it off. The only pattern name I can remember today is the log cabin pattern, but I used to know several more.

She's been gone seven or eight years now, but I always think of her every time I see one of her quilts. I have several I even brought to China with me, so I see them often. Hopefully, they will last forever.

6 comments:

  1. My grandma quilted, too. Now, I have several cousins who do it, and one who even owns a quilting store! I never picked it up, but I'll cross-stitch any day!

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    1. I've seen the whole process done so many times, I could probably crank out a crude one, but any project that takes that much time usually loses my interest.

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  2. Brett,

    I met your wife, Red, this morning. She was so kind to leave a message on my blog. My grandma, my husband's mother, and both of his grandmothers quilted. I always wanted to try but never found time to do it. Now all of the women in my family who did this art are no longer with me to learn from. That saddens me, too. My grandma made a twin size quilt for me after I was married. She caught wind that I wanted her to do it and she did. DH has a quilt that his paternal grandmother made for him when he was a boy and his mother made us several quilts over the years. These will always be cherished. You're right, it's nice having grandparents nearby and while mine weren't as close as yours, I did spend a lot of time with them. This is something that our kids did not have the luxury of doing since their grandparents live in different states. Hopefully, when we become grandparents we won't be separated by miles and miles. They won't find me quilting but they most certainly will find me writing or drawing or photographing or baking or other creative passions. Thanks for sharing such a fond memory.

    Curious as a Cathy
    A2Z iPad Art Sketch Quaint Living room

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    1. Thank you. She was a hard working woman. She continued working well into her 70's. Is was great having her so close. My kids even got to know her well.

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  3. Your grandmother was a hard working woman. I've wanted to do a quilt. But life keeps me too busy. I'm glad she had a family to appreciate her work. Quilts are works of art.

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    1. We loved her work. Her quilts are the possessions everyone wanted after she was gone.

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