Quilts

As a child, I remember sitting under a quilting frame while my mother, grandmother and aunts quilted. I would crawl underneath the frame which was held up by ladder back chairs (one at each corner) and I would gaze up at the colors of the pieces with light shining from above them. The light and fabric backing of the quilt made the colors of the pieces diffuse, and I would dreamily imagine stories of knights and damsels, stained glass windows, and cathedrals. All of the quilts were handmade, as were the ladder back chairs and many of the other day to day necessities which were in our homes. My family did not have the means to purchase these items and would have thought spending the money on these items to be frivolous. If something could be made with what we had, it would be wasteful not to make it. Quilting was a necessity for many families, as well as my own. Today, quilting has become an art-form, a preservation of tradition.

Every quilt that was made told a story. Pieces may have been cut out of husbands' work shirts, children's clothing, old aprons, and even wedding dresses. Each piece spoke of a time when the garment was new, when the children were young, when a crop was planted and harvested, or when a young girl was married. Women sewed the pieces of their families' lives together.

The process of making a quilt was time consuming, and was usually a winter project when other chores were not as demanding. My memories and recollections of quilting are of many women's voices buzzing overhead as they stitched the fancy designs. I can hear them laughing and talking about their lives, the garden produce, the crops, the neighbors, and the church. I can smell the coal fire in my grandmother's small grate in the sitting room. I had the privilege of experiencing what many people now try to reclaim in their making of quilts. The stories of quilts are the stories of family unity, of home and hearth, and the warmth of siblings.

Quilts make us feel special. Quilts warm our toes as well as our hearts. We no longer curl up with a quilt in front of a coal fire, but now in front of a television. Still, we have our quilt. We seek the sense of home, even the sense of family identity, of belonging and a quilt many times satisfies that desire. Quilts make us feel as though we have come home.

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