A to Z "Q"

Q is for quilts...

That's mighty country. The image, an old fashioned wooden front porch swing with a quilt lying across it, or an old "arn" (iron) bed with a crazy quilt.

The former was an image from Good Housekeeping magazine, and the latter was an image from my childhood.

Both of my grandmothers quilted, but their approaches and levels of finesse were quite different. My mom's mom was a perfectionist. A prim woman who always wore an apron at home, and her quilts were rather prim too--meaning precise and proper. And, they were beautiful!

The only quilt I ever saw that my dad's mom had made was a crazy quilt, with "1930" crudely embroidered on one of the random-shaped pieces of salvaged fabric that kept my dad, aunts and uncles warm.  The quilt was dull in color, with old snippets of wool and flannel remnants neatly hand stitched together.  My grandma and my aunts, as the story goes, made the quilt together.

Out of that quilting DNA, I'll share my attempt at quilting. I gathered instructions a few years ago, just a simple 9-patch quilt. Giving my paternal grandmother a nod, I used salvaged fabrics to make the squares. I measured, made sure it was all cut perfectly, the corners met just right --the nod to my maternal grandmother.  And by the time I had two 9-patch pieces sewn together, I was absolutely sure that any quilting gene had completely skipped over me. Yep. The truth of it? There are a lot more ways to arrange 9 squares than the instruction would have you believe., And by geez, I found at least two of them. :-)

I'll get back to it someday--and give a bigger nod my paternal grandmother's direction. Go for the crazy quilt... It's a good quilt. (lol).

And here's a the biggest nod of all to my friend, Theresa, in Texas, who made me a Christmas quilt two years ago. and it's just as pretty (and perfect and complicated) as the day is long!

And I have to go visit the quilters taking part in this year's A to Z challenge, and tell them how amazing they really are! To find more A-to-Z-ers, click Here