Saturday was our Scrappy Mountain Majesties workshop with the Green Country Quilters of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
During our show and share a couple of very special family quilts were brought in, to all of our delight!
These quilts may have never won public awards,
But they won first prize in the eyes of those who were given these quilts in love.
Who slept and dreamed and felt comforted beneath the pieces and stitches these quilts contain.
These quilts are a family life line, a visible reminder of favorite people who are no longer with us.
These quilts are a legacy!
1960s Grand Mother’s Flower Garden.
This quilt was made by a great grandmother, using scraps from her great granddaughter’s clothing (Shown left). I love how vibrant and colorful this is!
Detail!
Each roset contains an orange or yellow center, a solid color round, and is finished off by a scrappy second round before being framed in white. These rosettes are then joined in a lovely lavender path.
Another section!
The story goes that this quilt was made to match a very special newly painted purple bedroom! I don’t remember how old the owner was at the time…maybe 7? Could be 9? But the fun part of the story is…none of the other cousins received quilts from this great-grandmother. Whether she got too old to do more, or whether she really just favored THIS granddaughter, so made a quilt for HER daughter –we can only speculate. But it is a wonderful example of a great-grandmother’s love in hand piecing and hand quilting this quilt for a newly painted purple bedroom in 1960 something.
Check out the border!
The top and bottom borders are like this, while the side edges are finished with half rosettes and the edge straightened.
I guess great-grandma ran out of that one purple because the purple changes….just here on the bottom edge. One lavendar was color-fast – the other one, changed shades over time.
I LOVE THIS! I think it makes the quilt more human, more real, with loads more character!
1904 red work by a pair of great aunts!
I about flipped when this was brought to class! Another well loved family quilt that has been slept under for generations and has gone through the washer and dryer on occasion – an example of a quilt that was meant to be used and loved and enjoyed!
Some favorite scenes:
Girl with dolly.
Boy blowing bubbles
Eagle and shield
Dated flag with great-aunt’s initials!
Toad and toad stool!
Pig & trough!
And my favorite of all:
Sunbonnet Sue on an ostrich! So cute!
I really loved seeing both of these quilts. I love the stories behind them. The family connection full of memories of growing up wrapped in the quilts that were made with love.
What quilts will be remembered by future generations long after we are gone? What memories will our quilts hold for them?
I am a firm believer that quilts will continue to share our love with those we gift them to, even when we aren’t around.
It sounds funny to say ---but somehow the love stays behind even after we ourselves have moved on.
SO! I am home! I woke to the sound of chirping birds this morning – Wonderful!
I hope you are planning on joining me for Quilt-Cam tonight at 9pm EST!
I’ll be ready to sew – will you?
14 comments:
The red work animal illustrations look like they could be the work of Shel Silverstein illustrator of Where the Sidewalk Ends and others. Beautiful!
Love these quilts and the stories behind them! I do not have a quilt with a story behind it like that but maybe my ancestors will!
You are so correct. I still sleep under a dear friends quilt that I purchased from her that has sent gone to be with the Lord and think of her daily. Quilts are treasures of time.
I have a wool tied quilt that my grandmother made for me. Some years after she passed, when my sisters saw it, they wondered why I got one and they didn't! ;-) So I ended up having to make them one, as well as several other family members wool quilts. They were recycled wool squares with an army blanket for batting and flannel on the back... weighed a ton!!! But so warm!
Family Treasures! I could have used that GFG quilt in my Lavendar room in the 60's or 70's. Love the Sun Bonnet Sue on the ostrich too. Glad you are HOME!
I LOVE all the show and tell quilts. Lovely! I am working tonight so will have to catch quilt cam later this week. I have been wondering how Mona is progressing. Glad you are feeling better.
Those hexies are amazing-I need to get back to mine
Thank you so much for sharing these well made and very loved quilts! Just lovely work!
I have two quilts from my grandmother that I never met. She passed away when my mom was a teenager. I would see the quilts when we did fall & spring cleaning when I was growing up. When I was a child, I used to ask my mom if someday I could have one of grandma's quilts. I received one at my bridal shower.....I was thrilled! 25 years later I still have the quilts to remember my mom and her mom. They are my ties to the past which mean so much to me. I can only hope that my quilts will do the same.
Beth in IL
Awesome quilts. Both took a lot of work. Impressive
Thanks for sharing
What wonderful treasures to own, I love the show and share and it made it even more special when I saw the date on the red work, because 5-14-1904 was my dad's birth year, so he was 70 days old when either this quilt was finished or when that block was made. Thank you for sharing these. And so thankful you are finally home, and having quilt cam tonight. Can you believe it has been 3 weeks since the last quilt cam aired, it sure seems like alot longer. But that is the last date that was on your blog, and on you tube. Well see you tonight.
Just to think of all of the housework etc. the women had to do and they didn't have the "conveniences" to help them as we do. And THEY had time for beautiful handiwork, including quilting.
Thinking it might not be so bad to turn off the TV after evening news, and relax 'at the end of the day".
They might not have had to leave the house or farm to go to work... but the work they did do would bury us!!!
THANKS BONNIE.... super post today!
Smiles, JulieinTN
Bonnie,
Thank you for posting the picture of the grandmother's flower garden.
Until today, when I saw that picture I did not really care for hexie quilts. That quilt changed my mind. It makes me want to learn how to make a hexie quilt if it turns out looking like that.
Thanks again for sharing.
Cindy
You amaze me with all you do daily and the happiness you bring to others. And all those quilts you post of yours and others! Just amazing.
Jane
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