Long ago and far away, in distant lands, there were once neighbours – friends of my mom who lived up the street from us. I remember, she and several other friends gathered in this neighbours basement, around an old-fashioned quilt frame, and had a quilting bee . I remember this every time I watch “How to Make an American Quilt“. Vague memories surface of laying underneath the quilt and being fascinated when light from the windows made the underneath look like a stained glass window. Whether I actually laid under the quilt or not, I think that’s when my interest in quilts started. It took many years, three different countries and a dissolving marriage before that interest turned to actually starting to learn about quilting.
I’ve asked my mom about that quilt since then. She said that after that day, she remembers the neighbour asking my mom’s opinion about her mother’s quilting stitches. They weren’t as tight, as small and as straight as they used to be in her hey-day, and she thought maybe she should take them out and do them better. My Mom remembers that she suggested no, that the neighbour would always remember her mother making those stitches, when her mother was no longer be around, that it might provide some comfort to know that her mom’s hands had made those stitches, perfect or not.
My mom has a few quilts of uncertain provenance. She has a lovely butterfly quilt, blanket stitched with black thread, that is unraveling in places. The fabrics look a bit 1930’s or 40’s. She thinks her grandmother had it, but doesn’t think anyone in the family actually quilted, so it might have been bought or a gift. Regardless, it’s now family heritage, and when I one day mend it, I will use threads and fabrics that have been in my family and used in quilts I’ve made.
When quilting these days, especially for family members, I deliberately include a lot of symbolism. Some in the block patterns I use, some in the fabrics I use, and some are in the actual quilting.
My youngest granddaughter lives in Australia, while I currently live in the US. I made her older sister at least 2 quilts both before and after she was born, though I left before the younger one was even a twinkle in her parents’ eyes. So when I found out she adored unicorns (‘corns she called them), I immediately went and found material with unicorns, and pink and purple sparkly colours to match. I chose a pattern called “Family Ties” by its designer, Quiltin’ Jenny.
Though this young granddaughter and I don’t know each other well, yet, she is my family and always will be! When the top was done and it was layered, I quilted stars, and a wild-form paisley that matches the unicorn tails. She and her sister are my stars and moon, my loves, and paisley’s are symbolic of new life, new seeds – an embryonic form of the great woman she will grow up to be.
There are also parallel quilted lines in the long areas of the pattern. She, her parents and myself are all parallel, and at times interlaced, generations.
The back of the quilt reminds me of bright bloomy fireworks – grandbabies are so worthy of celebration and fireworks!
Normally, I would put material from a previous quilt, into the next or next several quilts. I can’t use any of the material from her sister’s quilts, as I don’t have it anymore, but there are bees on one of those quilts, so I can include some bee material (or an embroidered bee) on the label to connect them.
I have yet to put a label on the Unicorn quilt, so I will find a matching material to include on this one. Luckily I have a LOT of purple to chose from that was used in my recently finished “Starry Starry Night” quilt (to be featured in another post). In my mind and my creativity, it shows the continuity in life; how one generation or project continues on in the next generation or project. It has become a “thing” with my quilts this year. Possibly because 2020 has shown me how you can have someone in your life, thinking they’ll always be there, and then one day, when you don’t expect it, they’re gone. But those lives have and will continue to have ripples in lives they may never know.
There are more quilts that I either finished or started this year, but that’s for another post!