Restoring Family Quilts & Memories
June 12, 2009 by Mary Emma Allen
Filed under Home & Living
I look at the old quilt I made with my grandmother more than 50 years ago and note some of the small repairs I must make so that the fabrics don’t deteriorate further. For a quilt that’s well used, it’s in surprisingly good condition. Those feed sack fabrics have endured the years well.
Image: sxc.hu
When you restore family quilts, you’re restoring memories, too. I recall sitting at Nanny’s side when I was about eight-years old, selecting fabrics, cutting them, and then hand stitching the blocks together. While we worked in the farmhouse kitchen, Auntie bustled around with housework and cooking. Ah! What delicious aromas came from her many dishes simmering or baking.
Do you have quilting memories?
Susan Lazear shares her memories of quilting with her grandmother in Repairing Family Heirlooms. She also shows photos of one of her grandmother’s quilts she and her mother have repaired.
Also, if you’re at a loss about repairing an heirloom quilt, Susan describes and shows in pictures how she and her mother did this one. It may help give you some ideas and get you started.
my mom in law and i are making a yo-yo quilt for my husband and i. we are sharing many special moments but what is so special to me about it is that it’s coming from her hands in a time when her mind is leaving us. she has alzhiemers dementia and is fading fast. but working on this quilt keeps her hands busy and seems to help a lot. she forgets that i’ve threaded 6 needles for her and have them in her cupcake pin cushion, but that’s ok, i just tell her gently again and again and so we go on. it’s a wonderful expierence for me and for her son during her time of transition from this world to the next.