BellaOnline Forums Hobbies and Crafts Quilting Personal stories of your most treasured Quilt

Quilts have a way of living on. I would love to hear some stories of Quilts that have been passed down or Quilts that have been given to you.
I thought I would share the story of my only quilt as it means so much to me and perhaps some of you will come up with an idea because of it.

My grandfather passed away when I was 2. A few years later my grandmother started going through and getting rid of some of his stuff. When it came to getting rid of all of his old shirts she couldn't bear the thought. Then she decided she wouldn't get rid of them at all... what she decided to do was cut all of the shirts up into squares and then made a quilt out of the shirts for all the grandchildren.
The Christmas she gave them all to us none of us realized how special they were. My mom put mine in a closet until I got older. 20 years later the quilt lays over my couch. Every time someone comments on what a nice quilt it is I get the chance to tell them the story about it. They get to see a bit of my grandfathers personality in the plaid and the colored stripes he would often wear. It brings me a lot of joy and I cherish it more than anything else I own.
What are some of the stories behind quilts you have given away or been given?

When my great grandmother died my grandmother got many of her unquilted quilt tops. She kept them for several years. One day she gave my mother, my sister and I each a quilt top. We borrowed a quilting frame and hung it in the living room and the three of us worked months quilting the three quilts. I was about 14 at the time, and I had never quilted before. My mothr taught me how to quilt with those quilts.
I still have my quilt, and my daughter is 26 now and it will be hers soon. Which will mean she will have a quilt her great great grandmother made.
It also is the catalyst that spurred me to make quilts too. I have many of my own now that can also be passed down.

Bylen

My most treasured quilt that I made belongs to my Mother. Several years ago I mailed a cotton muslin square to each member of our family and asked them to draw or write something on it for our Mom. Everyone obliged and I received them all back and then embroidered the designs. I sewed them together and made a top panel that said "For Our Loving Mother and Grandmother, Christmas 1986" and my neice and I embroidered that. I also made a bottom panel that was a picture of all seven of Mom's kids wearing overalls and picking apples. I used scraps of fabric for the clothing on the kids and each kid was carrying a special thing, like a favorite teddy bear or something significant that identified them. The side panels were matching fabric of the backing and I embroidered four large heart wreaths for each corner. Mom cherishes it. It took me one year to complete it.

It's so heart warming to hear your wonderful stories about special quilts in your life. One thing that is very apparent is that the joy of making for someone else is eternal through time, regardless of the social or economic conditions of the time - we will always get joy and pleasure from making and giving to others.

Any more stories?

Gypsy -

I hope you read this.

Why don't you tell us about that lovely piece of quilt your husband's great grandmother had saved and was eventually passed down to you. Remember? You showed it to me many years ago. It is very old and the fabric is thin from age and the colors and prints are so lovely. You were trying to decide what to do with it and I suggested that you put a trim around it, a hanging tube and use it as a wall hanging.

I would love to hear more about it.

I have made several quilts over the years, both by hand and machine. My favourite is my huge double bed size Grandmother's Flower Garden made from 1 inch hexagons. It took eight years to piece and quilt it entirely by hand, I sleep under it every night and love it.

My favorite quilt is one my MIL and I made when my daughter was born. She was 8 weeks premature so she was in the hospital for 6 weeks. My MIL used the embroidery appliques for the motifs and I embroidered them and she quilted it. I still have it. 42 years

My grandmother passed away last year in August and I was at my parents at Thanksgiving and my Aunt invited us over to see if there was anything that we wanted of my gramma's before she donated all the stuff that was left. My grandmother loved to make crafts and so I got some of her craft stash and I have her sewing machine, the cabinet and her sewing basket. I was looking through a box of material and found a small quilt top and took it. My mom said my grandmother didn't quilt when she was older because she had arthritus so bad and we got to looking at the top and recognized fabrics that my mom had given my great-grandmother that my mom used to make dresses for my sister and I and a couple of shirts she made for my dad. Turns out that the top was something my great grandmother had started. So my mom added a border to it and quilted it and made a tag for the back telling the story of how I saved it. I have an antique dolly crib and my doll from when I was 2 lays in the bed with the quilt on top. All of the grandchildren recieved one of my great gramma's quilts when my gramma passed away and the one I got is very special to me.