My mom made quilts. She stitched them by hand and quilted them by hand. I wish I knew how many hours she spent just on this quilt alone. She didn't have a big quilting loom but an oval lap size thing.....sort of like a big embroidery hoop (does anyone under 50 even know what that is?). In my mind I can still hear the sound of her scissors cutting the fabric on a 50's dinette set. Since I have lost a good bit of my hearing ability I realize I would not hear that sound now. I wonder why that sound has stayed in my mind so vividly. I can remember the pricks on her fingertip from inserting that needle what had to be a million times. Her thumb and fingertip were paved with pricks. This is one of the very few---if not the only quilt---for which she purchased the fabric. When I was growing up we had no blankets in our house except for a scratchy, ugly, stinky-even-when-washed, army regulation OD (olive drab) green wool army blanket of my father's brought home from World War II. However we did have plenty of quilts made with scraps of our clothing. When my girls were little we used to wrap up in one of several quilts my mom made for me and i would tell them about the different patches of fabric, what article of clothing it originally was. My mom also made just about every item of clothing I wore even after I married and was a working girl and my daughter's clothes when they were little. One of the regrets in life that I have is I doubt I told her enough how much I loved this quilt, how proud I was of the clothes she made for me, how amazed I was that she could take a skein of yarn or thread and crochet it into something. No, I don't doubt, I know I did not tell her enough. What a different perspective I have from 57 and 17 about the hours she spent making my clothes. I did not appreciate them nearly as much as I should have. She passed away almost 19 years ago. Could that possibly be right? 19 years ago? She had the most hard life of anyone I know. She lived through way too many really horrible things. Things her grandchildren do not know and can't even imagine but that is another story for another day, maybe. She had very few luxuries in her life and really not many pretty things but she could make the most beautiful quilts. She didn't like to read----we did not understand each other since I read almost every waking minute---but seldom did she sit doing nothing. She was sewing, quilting, crocheting. In fact, this quilt is 24 years old. 24 years old? How could that be when my spirit often feels 24 years old, although my body definitely doesn't! I think this quilt is blessed in some way because it has been wet on and thrown up on by my children and grandchildren, everything on earth spilt on it, when it was not on my bed it was on my couch warming my kids and me as we cuddled and read books or watched movies like the Wizard of Oz and somehow still the colors are vibrant. I noticed this week that this quilt is still in perfect condition even though I used it on my bed for most of those years and then I put it away because I was afraid I would wear it out. A couple of years ago I had a spiritual prompting that it really belongs to Brent so I gave it to my son. I hated to part with it but I know a prompting when I get one. He was just an infant when she started making this quilt and two years old when she finished it. I am glad to know that he does not keep it packed away as I did for years but must use it as it is often in their living room. What a shame it would be if it were still packed away, fabric rotting and not enjoyed. It has been washed a gazillion times and the cotton fabric is as soft as a fluffy dandelion. Taylor obviously loves the colors because she tries to pick up the diamond shaped pieces. My grandsons did the same thing when they were her age. I wish I could clone this quilt so each of my 4 children, my 3 grandchildren, my sister and my nieces and their children could each have one because it is so beautiful. I love this photo because my only granddaughter is so beautiful too and I think my mom is looking down on her, loving her very much and loving that she can play on this quilt.
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