Memories

I am sentimental about the quilts in my life. Whether it is a quilt purchased at an auction on a sunny day or one I have created myself – the memories are just as lovely to me as the colors or the pattern of the quilt.

Maybe my emotional attachment to quilts started because the first quilt I ever received was a gift from my grandma soon after my birth. My entire childhood and (too) far into my teen years, I slept with the quilt every single night. I even remember taking it to my friends houses’ for a sleep over.

Since I have spent so much of my life with this quilt – I thought I knew every stitch, pattern and design on it. I was wrong. Upon closer inspection of my baby quilt, I realized that I haven’t truly studied the it since I became a quilter and learned a few of the techniques my grandma used to make it.

Techniques 

Once I photographed my quilt I noticed what a wide range of techniques she used to make up this creative, little quilt. From what I can tell, she did not use a set-in-stone pattern to make this quilt. Rather, she created and selected the images at random, all with in a “baby” theme.

• small (baby appropriate) size
• embroidery
• applique
• hand-quilting

I have trouble reading the words she embroidered into the corner so many years ago. I think it says: Made especially for Sierra by Grandma Georgia 1991.

Here she used applique & embroidery to create three balloons. Obviously, after so much wear and tear the red ballon has “popped.”

 Numbers: 1, 2, 3

 Letters: A, B, C

 This poor kitty has seen his better days. What can I say? I loved sleeping with this quilt! My rough calculation works out to 365 nights x 16 years = 5,840 total nights. That’s a lot of use for a baby quilt.

The duck is probably one of my favorite characters on the quilt. Who doesn’t love a duck wearing a green, gingham-print top hat?

More embroidery work – flowers.

Here, the iron on transfer has lasted a little better than the fabric.

The faint outlines in the photo above were the part of the quilt that surprised me as I inspected it closely. I darkened the image a bit in an attempt to bring out the letters A and N. For the first time in years, I noticed that she hand stitched BABY ANGELL into the corner of the quilt to hold the layers together.

It was exciting to find this new small, but thoughtful, detail as I inspected the quilt with the eyes of a fellow quilter, rather than just a granddaughter. It gave me an even greater appreciation for my baby quilt.

Today, the baby quilt has a place of honor in the corner of my bedroom. I’m trying to be a little more gentle on it these days! Is anyone else still attached to their baby quilt?