An appreciation of your quilting heritage

Today I met a woman who has a true love of quilts. She does not sew, but admires her grandmother who has made many quilts by hand. She says she has several and cherishes them all. Her grandmother still sews, but not by hand these days due to arthritis. The grandmother sells her quilts to bed and breakfasts in Fairbanks.

The woman I met said that her grandmother has quilts on all her beds and she loves that it is very homey there. Her favorite quilt is one her grandmother made using yoyos. She did not know what they were called but described them to me as "circles of fabric that you sew around the edges and pull the thread tight to make a smaller circle that looks like a flower and sew them all together. She said it is not the most comfortable quilt to lie on but she loves how it looks on her bed. She also told me that she has several of her grandmother’s quilts in her home, on beds and hanging on the walls.

This woman has a true appreciation for her heritage, and says that one day she would like to learn to quilt herself, but at the present does not have time with working, going to school, and raising her daughter.

I told her that taking the time to learn is some thing she will cherish later in life when she has quilts she has made to pass onto her grandchildren along with those her grandmother made. I also told her that quilting is a great stress reducer and very relaxing.

I hope that she takes my advice and signs up for a beginning quilting class, and may her daughter will go along with her and learn as well.

I have taught my boys to sew and both have taken quilting classes and I hope that they have a true appreciation of the quilts that are passed on to them by me, both those that I have made and those that were made by past generations of their family. I know that they like having quilts on their beds, ones made by me and ones made by them.