This is going to be a section devoted to stories about your quilts. I ask that you email me special stories about quilts that you have made or that have come into your possession. Please don't make them too long as I want to have room to keep several online at a time.
Let me be the first to share with you. I made a baby quilt for a little girl named Kaley that was born to friends of my daughter. She is now two years old and dearly loves the Disney Princesses. Her mother tells me she carries the quilt everywhere and calls it her "Princess Blanket". Now mind you, it does not have any princess fabric in the quilt but it warmed my heart to think of her dragging this quilt with her all the while thinking about her favorite characters.
This next one came from a quilting friend of mine through an email. Although it is not a story about a quilt I made, but a story that gets passed around on the internet. Rarely do I pass stories along that I get as I myself am swamped with emails, but this one was a keeper. I had it on my front page for a couple of months and received so many wonderful responses that I though it should be kept for others to see and share.
QUILT OF HOLES
As I faced my Maker at the last judgment, I knelt before the Lord along with all the other souls.
Before each of us laid our lives like the squares of a quilt in many piles; an angel sat before each of us sewing our quilt squares together into a tapestry that is our life.
But as my angel took each piece of cloth off the pile, I noticed how ragged and empty each of my squares was. They were filled with giant holes. Each square was labeled with a part of my life that had been difficult, the challenges and temptations I was faced with in every day life. I saw hardships that I endured, which were the largest holes of all.
I glanced around me. Nobody else had such squares.. Other than a tiny hole here and there, the other tapestries were filled with rich color and the bright hues of worldly fortune. I gazed upon my own life and was disheartened.
My angel was sewing the ragged pieces of cloth together, threadbare and empty, like binding air.
Finally the time came when each life was to be displayed, held up to the light, the scrutiny of truth. The others rose; each in turn, holding up their tapestries. So filled their lives had been. My angel looked upon me, and nodded for me to rise.
My gaze dropped to the ground in shame. I hadn't had all the earthly fortunes. I had love in my life, and laughter. But there had also been trials of illness, and wealth, and false accusations that took from me my world, as I knew it. I had to start over many times. I often struggled with the temptation to quit, only to somehow muster the strength to pick up and begin again. I spent many nights on my knees in prayer, asking for help and guidance in my life. I had often been held up to ridicule, which I endured painfully, each time offering it up to the Father in hopes that I would not melt within my skin beneath the judgmental gaze of those who unfairly judged me.
And now, I had to face the truth. My life was what it was, and I had to accept it for what it was.
I rose and slowly lifted the combined squares of my life to the light.
An awe-filled gasp filled the air. I gazed around at the others who stared at me with wide eyes.
Then, I looked upon the tapestry before me. Light flooded the many holes, creating an image, the face of Christ. Then our Lord stood before me, with warmth and love in His eyes. He said, 'Every time you gave over your life to Me, it became My life, My hardships, and My struggles.
Each point of light in your life is when you stepped aside and let Me shine through, until there was more of Me than there was of you.'
May all our quilts be threadbare and worn, allowing Christ to shine through!
God determines who walks into your life ...it's up to you to decide who you let walk away, who you let stay, and who you refuse to let go..'
I need this back. If you'll do this for me, I'll do it for you....When there is nothing left but God, that is when you find out that God is all you need..
Take 60 seconds and give this a shot! All you do is simply say the following small prayer for the person who sent you this.
Father, bless all my friends in whatever it is that you know they may need this day! And may their life be full of your peace, prosperity and power as he/she seeks to have a closer relationship with you.. Amen.
Send this on to five other people, including the one who sent it to you.
Within hours you caused a multitude of people to pray for other people.
Then sit back and watch the power of God work in your life.
I chose more than five...you can too!
Wendy from Cortland, New York sends this inspiring story:
I started learning how to quilt about 4 or 5 months ago out of boredom. I have gone legally blind and saw a video on quilting and the woman said that she is legally blind and quilting was one of the things she can still do. So I started my adventure in quilting. Our granddaughter came over after I started learning and asked me what I was doing, when I told her I was making a quilt, she asked what's that, I told her they are warm blankets, she said she wanted one for her 4th birthday and she wanted it sponge bob yellow. I said ok, I will try. When we went to see her on her birthday she opened her quilt, and stopped opening presents, she wouldn't put it down. Her father's girlfriend asked if she could see it, she said noway. It was to cute.
Kiki (Kathleen) sends one that will touch your heart and sense of humor:
Once upon a time, there was a quilt... My first quilting project was a simple Christmas table runner. I had asked my mom for red and/or green fabrics I could use for it. She said she'd go through her stash and find something for me. After work one day, I went over there to pick up a paper bag full of scraps. She had gathered anything and everything that had even a hint of red and/or green in it! I didn't want to hurt her feelings, so I took it all home. When I saw her at Christmas, I said, "Remember all those scraps you gave me? Well, you can have them back!" With that, I plopped down a brown paper bag next to her. Her mouth dropped open. My sister said, "Let's see, Mom." She opened the bag and pulled out a finished lap quilt made from all the scraps she gave me. She loved it, and everyone else oohed and ahhed! That was almost 10 years ago. Since then, Mom had to be placed in an assisted living apartment. (I got a lot of her fabric stash!) After !
a few years, she went to a memory care facility. My quilt went with her. A few months ago, Mom "went home," but my quilt had disappeared. No one at the nursing home has been able to locate it. I like to think she took it with her.
Jo from Oklahoma sends this one:
My quilting story is: When my grand daughter was just crawling, I was hand piecing a Grandmothers garden pattern,as I added a block or row she would crawl to it and pat and rub,then curl up and take a nap on it. As it got to be bigger,she made a tent with it and was saved from an "Indian raid". To make a long story shorter,she is now 18 planning her wedding next year,the quilt is the first thing she said that goes with me. OOOOOOH the joys of being a quilting grandmother
Jean from Aberdeen, WA sends this one,
I have many, but last night was the most touching and funniest at the same time. My husband and I are raising our three grandchildren ages 5, 6 & 7 and they are always helping me with my quilting by holding pins, pinning, picking out fabric, etc.
Last night my grandson was getting ready to take his laundry basket to his room when I saw him reach into the basket and toss some of his clothing aside. Curious, I asked him what he was looking for. He stood up with his favorite sweatshirt that has Spiderman on it and said, 'Ranny, I am ready for you to make me a blanket with this now and he very carefully set it on some fabric
Janis from Salem, MO tells a great story about her family....
My Quilt Story. My family gets together on Christmas Eve and we exchange gifts. We each bring a girl gift if you are a girl and a guy gift if you are a guy. The girls play a game with the girls to exchange their gifts and the guys do the same. I have 2 sons. One is 38 and the other is 27. The last couple of years I have been making quilts for the exchange. I have 5 other sisters and the one under me in age is also a quilter. The guys played a game that you steal from one another. My youngest had the guy quilt and my brother stole it from him. He's was upset about it but gave it up gracefully. My other son ened up stealing it from my brother and traded his brother after the exchange. When my oldest told me what happened I was really surprise that my youngest wanted the quilt. So when he came upstairs I ask him why he wanted the quilt that if he wanted another one I would have made him one. He looked at me and said mom it was the best gift in the exchange. !
He made my night.
Terry from California tells us how she came to be in the quilting world......
HOW I FELL IN LOVE WITH QUILTS When I was 3 (1954), my family moved from beautiful sunny California to beautiful but snowy Missouri. Daddy's sister made quilts for my two older sisters and me. They were simple quilts just made from two pieces of drapery material, but I loved mine dearly and thought it the most beautiful blanket I had ever seen. One side was large leaves in rust, burgundy, hunter green, and gold. The other side had scenes with Romanistic columns, circular benches and potted plants in shades of creamy green and cream. I could picture myself sitting on a bench and reading books or playing with dolls or flip it over and be in awe of the fall leaves. I kept the quilt until it was worn and frayed and intended to keep it forever...until I came home from school (1967)one day and found my mother had used it to line a box for the dog to have her puppies. I was so shocked and sad (and a tad bit angry) as my mother explained she had used it because it looked more like an old rag than a quilt. Mother offered to wash it, I declined. After learning to sew, I started making my own little quilts, and as I got better, bigger quilts. I made two full size quilts one year in July...boy was that hot, but worth it. I think I developed my love affair with quilts, quilt books, magazines, quilting web sites, material and autumn leaves thanks to my sweet Aunt Vernie who made me my first quilt, one of the most wonderful gifts of love I ever received.
This one from Pam will pull at your heart strings.....
After both of our parents died last summer, the job of cleaning out the house was left to me and my three siblings. Going through one of Mom's cedar chests, my sister and I found Dad's baby quilt, made in 1931. It had his name and the year, but no signature of who made it. It was ripped and one side was completely frayed, but it had potential. I have been working on it slowly, taking it apart and replacing some of the pieces. I have purchased a piece of 1930's fabric to replace the back. I hope to have it finished by the end of the year so I can give it to one of our daughters for her birthday in January. We moved away from near my parents several years ago, but my daughter and Dad carried on this special relationsip since she was a baby. I know this will be one of her best gifts ever and I can't wait to see her face when she opens this present.
Its funny - of all the times we used to go through that cedar chest with Mom, neither my sister or I ever remember the quilt.
Kathleen from Kansas sends a story to warm your heart:
My mother pieced a 1000 pyramid quilt in scrappy fabrics and completed the piecing at the end of 2003 when she was 86 years old. Her piecing was amazing in spite of failing eyesight and dexterity. She wanted to handquilt it, but was no longer able to do so. So, one of her last requests to me before she died in June 2006, was that I be sure to get it quilted for my dad. She finally had resigned herself to thinking it would be machine quilted. She had tried to quilt it in the ditch on her Singer Featherweight machine, and asked me to take all of those stitches out so that someone could machine quilt it. Finally, in Feb. 2007, 8 months after her death I felt like I could work on it. My mother had pin basted it and it was all ready for quilting. I took out all of her stitches and remembered that she had really wanted to hand quilt it. So, I put it in the hoop and started quilting by hand a quarter of an inch inside each triangle. I love to hand quilt and actually had gotten her started on hand quilting about 20 years ago. I finished the quilting and bound it with the fabric she had specified, in time to enter it in our county fair in July of this year. The fair board determined because she had actually pieced the quilt top, that it could be entered in her name and judged in the Over 70 age group. She was awarded the Grand Champion ribbon over all of the Fancywork. She would have been so thrilled. I have attached a picture that the local paper took at the fair. Thank you for letting me share.
Here's Kathleen with the quilt that she and her mother created.
Lois from California sends this one:
For our motorcycle group I made a crazy quilt with fabric that relates to our groups trips and activities. The blocks were sashed with black and I hand quilted a 'White Line' down the center of all the sashing and called the quilt, "Crazy trip around the Block."
I shared the picture with an internet friend in NY. She wrote back and asked what does "Hog Heaven" mean and what was the archlike tombstone in the block down towards the bottom.
I sent her close ups of both blocks and said Hog Heaven meant...total happiness and the arch was of an Angel . She wrote back that she has two children that have died and the girl's name was Angela and she had a dream of the son and he said he was in Hog Heaven but never knew what it meant..
I received emails from her two other daughters asking to buy the quilt because she just knew the kids were talking to her through the quilt and that she was finally at peace that they both together and were happy.
The quilt had already been sold, so I told the daughters I would to make her pillows and duplicate the blocks. They said the boys block was very special because it had a cookie jar in it and had 5 Gingerbread men cookies on the fabric. The girls shared that the boy as a kid would tell his aunt..My Mom said I can have 5 Cookies.
I asked the two daughter the interest of the sister and found fabric to honor her.
Nan was very excited to receive her two pillows.
See Pictures below of her quilt and the blocks
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