In this guest post, Kristen King relates how Granny’s Quilt inspired her to attempt a baby gift quilt.  Although Kristen’s attempt was much simpler than Granny’s experienced project, I agree that Granny would have been proud.

Granny’s Quilt Inspires a Baby Quilt

Guest post by Kristen King

 There’s something so soothing about the systematic design of this white, flowered quilt, hand made by my great-grandmother, Flora, whom I always called Granny. The thin rectangles stitched into alternating squares and the narrow pure white border have always made me feel serene. Even when my bed was covered with much more dramatic, wild blankets and other coverings while I was growing up, this was always somewhere in my room.

Now, it hangs over the foot of the brass bed in my guest room, where it’s a source of extra warmth and comfort for my visiting guests.

When one of my closest friends told me she was having a baby about a year ago, I immediately decided that I wanted to make her a quilt – and this was the one that came to mind. For me, this is the perfect example of quilting perfection. Unfortunately, my skills as a seamstress are far from anything even remotely resembling quilting perfection. I’m not even good enough to make callbacks for the quilted toilet paper commercial. Seriously, I’m terrible.

So my workaround ended up being buying pre-made backing and just doubling it so it was the front and back, sewing on a border, attaching a cute bear with embroidery thread (it wasn’t an appliquÈ, but I don’t know what else you might call it), and then using ribbon to connect the front and back so they wouldn’t separate and buckle.

No, it was far from quilting perfection, but my friend loved it, and it’s really the thought that counts with gifts like those. And I think Granny would have been proud of me for trying.

Kristen King is a prolific blogger who writes for b5 at Lively Women (www.livelywomen.com ) and Biz Chicks Rule (www.bizchicksrule.com ). You can also find her at freelance writing blog Inkthinker (www.inkthinkerblog.com).

(c)Kristen King

Photo (c)2008 by Kristen King. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission. 

Post from: Blisstree

Granny’s Quilt Inspires a Baby Quilt

MEMORIES OF GRANNY’S QUILTS

Guest post by Kristen King

(From time to time I shall have guest posts by other quilters and quilt lovers.  Kristen King, who also blogs at b5media, shares her memories of her great-grandmother’s quilts in this and some subsequent posts.)

By all rights, quilting should be in my blood. Sewing of some sort should be, anyway. My great-grandmother, Flora, who I knew as Granny, made dozens of quilts in her lifetime. She also made countless doilies and dresses, shirts, skirts, you name it. She taught my mother to sew, and Mom made clothes for herself as a teen and clothes for me when I was growing up. When her mod outfits came back into fashion in the ‘90s, she modified them for me.

Granny lived on a farm, I think near Lynchburg, Virginia. I have only one memory of visiting there. We watched As the World Turns in a white farmhouse, and I put my hand on the still-hot burner of the electric stove and screamed so loud my throat was raw for days. My hand blistered, and Granny and my mom wrapped it in cloths and I carried around a pot of cool water to keep my burns wet.

When she got older, Granny moved from the farmhouse to a trailer to be closer to her oldest daughter, my mother’s mother. We visited her there once, too, and I remember that the living room was dominated by an enormous quilting hoop, and there were scraps of fabric and batting everywhere.

I didn’t know Granny well at all, but I like to think that her quilts tell a lot about her, and about me, too. 

I’ll be sharing some of those stories as I guest post here on Quilting and Patchwork.

Kristen King is a prolific blogger who writes for b5 at Lively Women  and Biz Chicks Rule. You can also find her freelance writing blog at Inkthinker.

Post from: Blisstree

Memories of Granny’s Quilts- Guest Post by Kristen King