Mom's Quilts

The other day I got out my mom's old quilt to put on the bed in our guest room. I like to use it periodically, and it is so pretty and cheerful. This was my mom's very first quilt, a Cathedral Windows quilt,  which is a very tedious and time -consuming quilt to make--especially for a first quilt!! I was quilting at the time, and I remembering thinking she was crazy to make this for a first quilt. But her friend Ginny had made this quilt, and my mom loved it. And she did it,  all by hand, all those little squares of fabric framed in muslin,  and I can't even begin to think how many of those little square she made and then sewed together. Maybe after all the years of machine sewing, it was relaxing to sew by hand, who knows. And the quilt is truly a work of art.  I love to look at this quilt now, because when I look at all the little windows of fabric,  I see the dresses my mom made for me, slipcovers for the old davenport, dresses she made for her granddaughters, the kitchen curtains--every one of the fabrics  came from something else she made, I am sure. My mom wouldn't buy new fabric if she had scraps she could use, and she had plenty.

Cathedral Windows Quilt

My mom kept a little quilt journal with pictures of all her quilts and I have the journal now. She didn't start quilting until she retired, but she was an expert seamstress all her life and she took to quilting right away. She made quilts for herself, my dad, my brother (and made it a second time after it burned in a house fire), several of her grandchildren, and almost all of her great-grandchildren. I have two of her quilts now, her first one (pictured) and the one she made for my dad. Pretty cool.

Great Granddaughter Hayden's quilt, 2001

Great Grandson Jack's quilt, 1992

Quilt for my uncle's grandson, Jonathan, 1991

Great Granddaughter Emily's quilt, 2000

Dad's quilt, 1990