The Event - Quilting with Love

I learned to sew when I joined 4-H at  age 8.  I loved sewing.  Sewing has always been a part of my life.  I learned on my mothers old black Singer machine ~ at least it wasn't a treadle.  She still has that same machine.  Then I got a new portable for high school graduation.  I took it to college with me and continued to sew.  I got a second  new Kenmore machine probably around 1980.  (?)  And a surger  a few years later.  And a new Janome in 2003.  I made most of my own clothes in the 60's and 70's. 

I made quilts for my three babies.  My favorite is the horse quilt I made for Cash when he moved from crib to twin bed.    I sewed lots of clothes for my little girls,  western shirts and even a sports coat  for my husband, dresses for my mom, college clothes for my sister-in-law. 

I sewed Care Bears for my kids.  I was a volunteer 4-H sewing leader when my girls were old enough to join 4-H.  They and their friends would come to my house weekly for a sewing lesson for their 4-H projects.   When we built a new house in 1976 I had a wonderful sewing room with built-in cabinets and everything perfect for my sewing haven. 

And then farming went south in 1986, and I got a city job, and the sewing ceased like overnite.  I no longer had time with a full-time city job.   It wasn't until 1998 that I dusted off the old sewing machine because I was soon to become a grandmother and I wanted to make my first grandbaby a quilt. 

I have been enjoying the therapy of quilting ever since.  Six of my seven grandchildren got baby quilts, and most of them got bigger quilts when they moved from crib to big bed.  My kids got quilts at high school graduation which they took to college with them.  My son got another one at college graduation.  My mom got a quilt.  The girls have quilts in their own homes.  Now why didn't one of my grandkids get a baby quilt?  That's a good question.  I bought what I thought was a really awesome neat furry blanket for grand baby #2.  That was really stupid!  Josh loved(s) his "store bought" blanket, but it was still bad grandma judgement!   Which explains why little Josh at age two was so estatic when he opened his  Christmas present and got his twin size quilt.  The picture remains vivid in my mind how he rolled in it and laughed with joy for minutes.  We were all spell bound by his reaction!  This Grandma was so proud!  Redeemed at last.

When Tim's grandmother Grabe died and we dispursed of her personal possessions, I found three unfinished sets of quilt blocks in her house.  I took all three sets home thinking I would finish them someday.  It took me several years to get them out and put them together, but I am so glad I did.  One set was a set of hand stitched stars made out of dresses, shirts and all sorts of othe vintage fabrics.  Her handiwork was not the best but the love that Grandma Grabe put into stitching those stars is felt today in that quilt.  The quilt belongs to Cash now, as Cash was close to his Grandma Grabe when he was young.

Another set was made into the eskimo quilt which now belongs to Jonathan.  The eskimo quilt consists of squares of painted eskimo scenes which Grandma did while living in Alaska many, many years ago.  The third set of squares were painted roses, which I put together into a beautiful quilt that I gave to Alexis.

Grandson # 3 ( Jon) wore his baby quilt to shreds.  I fixed it a few times, and finally his mom took what was left and made it into a pillow.  Jon asked several times for me to make another one "just like it."  Instead he got a very special quilt ~ the eskimo quilt ~ made of squares textile painted by his great-great grandmother Grabe.  It's his twin size quilt that hopefully will endure through the years - well used, but a keepsake as it's five generations in existence.

                                                These pictures randomly show some of the quilts that have passed through  my sewing machine and my hands over the years and have been events in my life. 

Quilting is definitely an event.  Planning the quilt is an event.  Selecting the fabric choices is an event.  Giving the quilt to the recipient is a special event.  Quilts can be a best friend to a child. Children tend to keep their quilts close to them as they would a good friend.  The grandkids bring their quilts to Grandpa's farm when they come to visit.  That is an event.  Quilts can tell a story.  Yes, quilts are an event!

I am most recently making crib quilts for the Linus Project ~ quilts made to give to children in the hospitals. 

I am trying to use up all my scraps and make them into something beautiful.  Quilts are a way of taking the scraps in life and turning them into something beautiful.  God does that with my life.  He works with me and mends me and spends alot of time taking the scraps of me and working them into something beautiful.  Quilts comfort me, but God is my comforter!  Quilting is an event I enjoy.