Tuesday, July 13, 2010

A QUILT STORY

This is the story of a quilt. Once upon a fairy tale, my long-time friend, Dottie, was searching through the homemaking closet at church for a project to get her through the long hours of winter. She found twenty quilt blocks that had been cut out about 40 years earlier by an older lady who never had the chance to sew them together. The lady had cut up her old dresses, aprons and feed sacks, so these were truly vintage quilt blocks. Dottie wiled away the winter hours by completing the blocks into a quilt top. The quilt top came my way, and I knew just how I wanted to finish the quilt and to whom I would give the final product. The old-fashioned, flowered stars reminded of the many flowers in my mother's and grandmother's gardens, so I envisioned vines whirling and swirling around them. I thought of all the winter evenings that I would spend hand quilting this flower garden!!
THEN....REAL LIFE SHATTERED THE DREAM. There have been those real life moments when the quilt was:

Ignored while other projects took precedence:









































Held for ranson by the thread bandit















Slept on






Bled on




Marked on and spilled on
Permanently scarred by a bleach belching washing machine




























This much abused vintage quilt is finished, and the recipient of quilt number eight of the Grandkid Quilt Project is Tobin, who, I know, will allow this special vintage quilt to live out its life in a rocking chair.

The quilt you see is a part of me
In your hand is the sum of my parts.
My mind, my body, and a piece of my heart.
Are quilted into its seams.
Wrap in it. lie on it, cry and dream dreams.
Cherish it, share it, and take this part of me
As a tribute to our love!!