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

I’m still learning about importing photos into my posts, so couldn’t get this one posted to accompany the story about Kristen King’s Teddy Bear Quilt that Granny made.

So…now (with Kristen’s help)…here it is for you to see.  Then click on the link above to relate it to the story.  I can see why Kristen treasures it.  Granny certainly put a lot of work into it.

What quilts do you treasure as a family legacy?  From the comments I’ve been receiving lately, I find that a quilting heritage is prominent in many families.  Record those memories and share them with your family and others they may inspire.

(c)2008 Mary Emma Allen

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

Post from: Blisstree

Photo of Kristen’s Teddy Bear Quilt

Kristen’s Teddy Bear Quilt from Granny

 Guest post by Kristen King

(Today Kristen shares with us the story surrounding the quilt Granny made for her.  This probably will bring back memories for you…either quilts you received as a child or ones you’ve made for children and grandchildren.) 

Quilts have always been in my home, so it wasn’t until I got married that I realized that wasn’t “normal.” Evidently, other people had comforters and bedspreads. Who knew? I guess it all started with my first quilt, a soft, pink teddy bear quilt that I think was made by my great-grandmother, Flora, whom I always called Granny.

I know it covered me for a while, when I was very small. But as I grew older, and, my mother has told me, more destructive, it later hung on the wall. Eventually it was packed away for safekeeping. During middle school, I pulled it out of the attic and displayed it in my room again. (Like most tween girls, I went through a brief period of being absolutely obsessed with my name, and the quilt had “Kristen Elizabeth Skove” embroidered across the bottom in fancy script.)

Teddy Bear Quilt Rediscovered

Once I outgrew the desire to have anything pink or remotely girly around, the quilt went back into the attic of my mother’s house, and there it stayed until just a few months ago. Now, it’s in my attic, in a white wicker trunk with pink trim and flowers on the front. There’s a quilted, bear-shaped bib that goes with it that’s also in the trunk, and I thought there was a pillow, but that’s gone missing.

I’m torn as to what to do with these items. It’s not really something that has a practical use right now, and since it has my name on it, I can’t really repurpose it when I have children of my own. But I think they’ll make great heirlooms one day, perhaps for my grandchildren or great-grandchildren.

Will they find me as interesting as I find Granny? I hope so.

(c)2008 Kristen King

Post from: Blisstree

Kristen’s Teddy Bear Quilt from Granny

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

I’ve been receiving many comments from quilters at Talk to Me About Quilting and Enter a Drawing, as they participate in the Bloggy Giveways .  These also give me ideas I’d like to share with Quilting and Patchwork readers. 

 If you don’t mind my using your comment in a post and mentioning your name, let me know by leaving a comment below.

There seems to be a trend about quilting memories…making quilts with grandmothers or other relatives, treasuring a quilt Grandmother made for you, recalling one’s quilting heritage.   I’ll also be featuring some guest posts by blogger Kristen King in the next few days as she reminisces about Granny’s Quilts.

Others are just learning to quilt or want to but haven’t started.  We can all encouage one another here…at the Quilting & Patchwork Community!

(c)2008 Mary Emma Allen

Post from: Blisstree

Comments from Quilters Create a Community