Wednesday, February 20, 2013

A Mother's Love

Many years ago my mom decided to make a quilt.  She embroidered six of the twelve blocks, then life got busy.  So my great grandmother finished embroidering the last six blocks.  That quilt never got made.  My grandma pulled out the blocks last year and gave half to my sister and half to me.  She asked us to figure out what type of quilt we would like to make with the blocks we were given and she would make the quilts to the best of her ability.




My sister's quilt is officially done.  Grandma pieced it and took it locally to be machine quilted.  Then grandma bound it.  It is a beautiful queen sized quilt. We didn't realize until we looked at it laying on my grandma's bed that the embroidered blocks form two large circles in the center of the quilt.




My quilt on the other hand is still a work in progress.  I wanted it to be like a flower garden with fences and playful flowers along the perimeter.  The type of piecing that I wanted for the fences also reminds me the stained glass windows that grandpa use to make.  Anyway, grandma has the center of the quilt pieced.  

Right now she is working on the white edge adornments- vines and flowers.  It is seeming to be quite a challenge, but to me plants are wild and unpredictable.  So I do not expect it to be prefect, or balanced, or to a set pattern.  Once the flowers and vines are in place, then an outside border that mimics the inside fences will be put on.  I believe that grandma is arranging for the ladies at our church to quilt it so it will hold even more significance and sentimental value for me.  I should be pleasantly surprised none the less and look forward to its completion.  I will make sure to post a picture when it is finished, although I am sure that it is months away.  




So as you can see, mom's simple project has encompassed four generations.  Mom and grandpa have been gone for two and half years now (today would of been grandpa's birthday), and last week was the nineteen year anniversary of great-grandma death.  I hope that mom, grandpa, and great grandma will look down at us and say "What beautiful quilts!  What beautiful memories!" 

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