Old quilts. Very Southern and I apologize to our Northern Brethren.

[6518John]

Twenty-something years ago I was in NYC on business and visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art after work. I will be durned if they did not have an exhibit of old quilts. The one pictured below was hand made by my Grandmother 75 years ago. I saw one just like it in the exhibit. I asked a Docent what they sold for locally and she told me "oh the decent ones $5,000, the good ones like this $7500 to $10,000".

I would not take a million for ours. My son uses it on special occasions. The occasion tonight is watching A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Those of you with young kids--from 9 months old to 90 years--need to get the holiday series. (My favorite part of the Thanksgiving special is when Snoopy fights the folding chair.)

I always think of the great Indigo Girls song whenever I see a quilt-- despite Georgia's defeat of my beloved Razorbacks on our SEC east rotation this year:

"In Georgia nights are softer than a whisper,
Beneath a quilt somebody's mother made by hand,
With the farmland like a tapestry passed down through generations,
And the peach trees stitched across the land."

I hope everyone has a blessed Thanksgiving and I think the world would be a better place if we all had a hand-made quilt to sleep under.

 

[jomommy]

I learned quilting from my mother in law ( who is the best ever in all regards) and her mother in law. It is one of the most relaxing pastimes, and a handmade and hand quilted quilt will last for generations. It is truly an art to not only match color and pattern, but if you look at quilting in general, it's the needle work that is the soul of the art

 

[carpriver]

I don't have an old quilt, but one my wife made for me. It is very special to me because it was a surprise to me. the top is high quality cotton fabric and the back is a soft flannel the batting is silk and bamboo. This is the quilt I use for my naps.

I agree the world would be a better place if everyone had a quilt to wrap up in.

 

[jgh4445]

My quilts are from my GGMother, my Gmother and my Mom. Treasures all. My Great Aunt Alice made sure both of my children had quilts as gifts the day they were born. Under a quilt is a special place.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

I got two old quilts when my Mother passed.
Now we do quilt trivia -
How many of you folks ever saw those hooks in the ceiling of an old farmhouse?
I mean the ones that were used to hang the quilting frames.

 

[6518John]

I never expected responses from Puget Sound, Michigan's upper Peninsula (been there looking at Kirtland's Warbler) and New Mexico. Bama absolutely!

I have always viewed quilting as a southern pastime--guess that shows my ignorance. And Pilgrim I will NEVER forget my grandfather coming home from a night of "sport"--not knowing my grandmother and I had set up the quilting frames in the parlor--and going to his favorite decanter of brandy. He had left the lights off not wishing to disturb my grandmother. When he fell into the frames it woke the whole house! He gamely said, "I was looking for a book!"

 

[A10]

MY mom made quilts for my sister, brother, and I. They lasted a very long time but got worn. Mom tossed them out. My wife has made a couple, gave them to the grandkids.

 

[snowman]

There are quite a number of ladies in these parts who make or used to make quilts. They have a tradition of doing it together, with each woman making her own contribution to the whole. They're often sold at benefit auctions for impoverished folks overseas.

Regards,
Andy

 

[model70hunter]

My wife is finishing one up for the recently born G'son. She made one for our Daughters 2 year old girl and will make one for daughters son who will be along in about 3 months.

My wife's mother is a master at quilting. All of her grandkid's got one.

 

[carpriver]

When my wife and I travel through Tennessee and Kentucky, we get off the interstate and travel the back roads and look for the quilt blocks on barns. a couple years ago we visited the National Quilt Museum in Paducah Ky. Saw some quilts hand sewn during the civil war and quilts make prior to the CW that were made and used to mark the path of the underground railroad to help slaves escape to Canada. it was a cool experience.

 

[Straightshooter2]

I have the last quilt my grandmother made...sewn by hand after she went blind! Her sister and friends cut the squares for her and stacked them, telling her what color (and print if any) each stack was. They would also take a large spool of thread and then thread several needles onto it. This way she could pull off however much she wanted and there would be a needle already threaded. I don't think I would even take $10,000 for it.

CW

 

[Sprefix]

I have two from my grandmother on my dads side. She was old school german and did things right. One quilt is a medium weight while the other is a heavy mid-west winter beast. I love them and they get used on "occasion". If I had to grab stuff and run out of a burning house, these would be in my arms.

 

[joeintexas]

Nothing quite as cozy as a quilt that you know was made with more love than anything else. Got a couple that my grandmother made that are getting pretty worn, they will always have a home though.

 

[Gunhacker]

Man... this brought back a flood of memories. The start of October was around the time when my Mom and Grandma would clear out the dining room and put up the room sized quilting frame to start making quilts for Christmas gifts.

As a young boy without much else to do, and to keep me out of trouble, it was my job in the preceding months to cut up the accumulated quilting material into various shapes using the cardboard templates they made for me to follow with the pinking shears.

All of this tradition was passed down for decades on my Mom's side of the family which has its roots traced back to Iowa and Mormon pioneers that emigrated from England in 1852.

The Mormon pioneer connection came as quite a surprise and unknown until I uncovered it when I started to do our family tree.

A few years ago, I went to Salt Lake City to visit the Family History (Genealogy) Center, and the Mormon Pioneer Museum where they have a display of some incredible quilts from the 1800's.

Grandma is long gone and so are the quilts, lost to time and the many family relocations. I miss both.

Joeintexas said it best... "Nothing quite as cozy as a quilt that you know was made with more love than anything else."

Happy Thanksgiving to you all and your family.

 

[Shorty 45 MK2]

I love a good quilt!

My Grandmother just made me one last Christmas since the one I had before that was getting thin.

 

[WuzzFuzz]

Alright you other old codgers, how many of you can remember your grandmother, (probably more so than your wife) making doilies?

I remember my one grandmother having other "war mothers" over and having the quilting party. I don't know what ever became of one of the quilts she made for us. But because she and the war mothers made them, they usually had stars on them somewhere.


How about having the old curtain stretcher set up to stretch out the old sheer curtains after they had been washed????


WuzzFuzz

 

[lawandorder]

Great thread John!...............

...............never really though about it until now but have been around Quilts, and Quilters all my life. I imagine this is the case with a lot of Folks here.

 

[walnutred]

I grew up with quilts and recently my daughter has taken up the hobby. The quilts I remember as being especially warm as a kid were made my my Grandmother and aunts in the 1950's. My uncles had brought back wool army blankets from WW2 and Korea and none of the kids liked them because they were so scratchy. So the wool blankets became quilt liners.

 

[Bugkiller99]

My MIL has an untold number of hand stitched quilts she has made. And currently has scores in various stages of completion.
FIL had to put on an addition to the house. MIL quilting room.

Every bed in our house has one of her quilts. Several hanging on the walls, one of them made from scraps of my wife's prom dress.

She and my son made one together. That one will be given to the first grandchild.

Oh, MIL is in Michigan.

 

[4barrel]

I am richer than I thought. I have 3 or 4 from the 60s that have never been used. I would trade for Colts or Smiths. How about a new star quilt for a used Python? 65 years ago my mother would take me to a place in the country & 8-12 women would sit around a table & make these quilts all day.