The very economy of construction in the early colonial/frontier days, using memorable remnants of old shirts, dresses, pants, flour sacks, or whatever---speaks of family and love and togetherness, and promises warmth on many years of winter nights to come.
In my estimation quilts are right up there with Mother, home, the flag, apple pie and Chevrolet.
There is an old tradition that, in quilting, the makers should build one mistake into it---to remind us that it is a metaphor for life: not perfect, but beautiful still, if you do your best.
Thoughts, Stories, and Items about Quilts:
-------In the late 1930's when I was very small, we visited my grandparents at a big two-story farmhouse in rural West Texas. It had heat in only the kitchen and living room, and probably no insulation. In a COLD upstairs bedroom they tucked Little Me into a bed and put a hot brick wrapped in a towel at my feet and covered me with quilts. You know, I made it OK.
-------In later years my grandmother got that new farm house close to town. She had a frame rig in one bedroom that was hooked to the ceiling and lowered for quilting parties. (Remember the song: "And 'twas from Aunt Dinah's quilting party I was seein' Nellie home...?") Though I never was there to see, she had ladies over to quilt; four or eight? I don't know. Maybe they had "tag team quilting!" LOL. On the back room of her new garage, in the corner, she had an old cane bottom kitchen chair stacked half-way to the ceiling with her reserve supply of "company quilts."
-------My mother, at marriage, received six or seven of these quilts. We used them for years, and I inherited one.
-------When you are a child and your have the flu or cold, and you lie under a quilt on the couch for a few days, you inadvertently memorize the pattern on your quilt, and many years later those memories can come back.
-------My wife's mother was an incredibly talented and speedy seamstress. She by-passed all the padding and stuff and just sewed together dozens of fabric squares out of her (apparently huge) remnant box; then she sewed this to a new attractive blanket, giving thickness, two sides, and saving a lot of time.
-------Here's one for you: The writer saw a great closeout on quilts (in a catalog), and ordered two queen size ones @39.95. The patterns, I'll grant, were a little foreign-looking. Guess where they were made? It was Russia! And pretty good quilts too!
-------My son gave me a Bear quilt throw, of which I am very proud, and which I keep by my chair for naps.
-------Quite a few restaurants around use quilts on their walls for atmosphere and nostalgia.
-------Quilting is alive and well. I counted seven shops in our city which sell patterns, fabrics, how-to books, and finished quilts. We have come a "right smart" distance from the plain old squares in quilts: now all sorts of patterns, pictures, adages, logos are available, including wedding and memorial themes.
--------Here's an interesting item: There is a NY Times Best Selling author, Jennifer Chiaverini, who has perhaps a dozen novels out in the "Elm Creek Quilt Novels." I'm not sure how they are written but I think she incorporates quilt patterns into her stories. Worth checking out!
Well, guess this is enough for now. I want you to send me a story of a couple of paragraphs with your feeling about or experiences with quilts. Ho-hum..... I think I may go get in my easy chair, cover up with my Bear Quilt, and read that Faulkner book I have been putting off. (He does make me sleepy.)
But, you're right--something poetic is needed to end a quilt post. Let me try: "I raise my cup of Hot Apple Cider to by-gone days of childhood, cold winter nights, snowstorms, winds whistling around the corners of the house, old tree limbs thumping against the roof, snug evenings around the fireplace, and finally, warm quilts to snuggle under!"
By Mil, 11-12-11
Sent from my iPad
Love it! Quilts are amazing and I think always have stories to tell :)
ReplyDelete