Quilts – A symbol of life and love

With all the other holidays I celebrate, you better believe I know about National Quilt Day. So let’s pause a moment and think about quilts.

I frequently tell people that quilting is my therapy. It costs about the same but I have a quilt when I’m finished. I frequently buy the material for a quilt in stages rather than all at once so I can’t know off hand how much a particular quilt cost me. I’m a bit afraid how much I spend on quilting. Although I did end up making money the second year I worked at Hancock (not enough to make up for how much I didn’t make the first year though). Quilting is the hobby that keeps me sane. It also allows a beautiful creative outlet for my math tendencies. I love calculating out how much fabric I need to make this design and have a finished quilt that is that size. Quilts are pretty math.

I also tell people that if I made you a quilt, it means you are special to me. Not everyone gets a quilt. They are a piece of me, it’s a piece of my heart and personality that go into my quilts. And I’m not going to just hand them out to people who can’t appreciate that. I’ve talked to many other quilters, and the stories they tell of what happened to some of their quilts after they sent them out makes me very grateful for the appreciation my quilts have been shown. A quilt is probably the most personal gift I can give someone. I think about fabric. I think about design. I think about every aspect of it and try to fit it perfectly to the person I’m making it for.

A new quilting friend recently asked me to bring her some of my quilts so she could see them. I’ve made a lot of quilts. I have no idea how many. But I only had three at home that were both finished and not in use (I also have two hanging on my walls and one on my bed). All the rest that I’ve finished have been given away. She has a quilting machine and this week I was able to set up a quilt top I’ve had finished since 2007 on it and in two evenings, we figured about 4 hours from setting it up to taking it down, the quilt was quilted. Now I just need to get the binding on it. I couldn’t believe how fast it went, and how easy! I was afraid there was going to be a big learning curve on it and was quite proud of myself with how it turned out. Now to get another top ready to go.

But that’s the other thing about quilts, they bring people together, in many ways. They can bring people together in the making of them. There’s the image of the quilting bee. And those still happen. Earlier this year there was a story about a group of Muslim and Mormon women coming together to make quilts for Project Linus (Muslim, Mormon women sew friendship during quilting project).

I’m helping a friend make her second quilt right now too. She thinks I help a lot, but mainly I just tell her what to do next, she’s doing all of it herself. Her quilt is going to be gorgeous too. But we have so much fun getting together to work on it when we both have days off on the same day.

The next quilt top I will be putting together I actually did very little work on. In 2005 I participated in a Christmas block swap with 24 other women. We each made a block for every other person in the group, and I received one block from each of them in return. All I have to do is put the blocks together with some fun sashing. This quilt has tied me to women across the country that I might not ever meet, but we have made a quilt together, and their work will be fun to wrap up in every winter.

I also think that a quilt can tie people together over distances and generations. I hope when my quilts are used that the person thinks of me and the relationship we have, even if we are hundreds of miles away. When my nephew was born last summer I made sure my sister had some blankets from me so that they could take him home in one of mine, even if I couldn’t be there. And even longer ago, I made sure there was a quilt ready for my sister when I left on my mission for the LDS Church so she could have it when she graduated high school while I was gone for a year and a half.

I had to give a speech in high school speech class explaining how to do something. So I explained and showed everyone how to tie a quilt. And then I gave the quilt to my mom who was having health problems at the time. She had that quilt with her in the hospital and after. It’s a hug I can give when I’m not there.

In 2004 I started a quilt for me (I do that on occasion). This one is going to be a small king/large queen sized quilt so I can use it on my bed for years. I machine pieced it, but I’m hand quilting it, something I’ve only done once before.

My first hand quilted quilt I made when I graduated high school. It was for a twin bed and I used it all through college. My mom and I quilted it while watching the Olympics that summer. I think of her when I see it.

But this large quilt, it’s going slowly. I can’t keep it up on the frames because of space reasons, so it’s easy to fold it away for long periods of time. But I love this quilt. And I’ve decided it is an heirloom quilt. A friend asked me what made it so, and I said I did. Because I will tell my children and my grand-children about making it and about me and they will know. It will be used. This quilt will be on my bed when it is finished. And it will be loved. And I’ll probably put the same “curse” on it that my Grandma did with the quilt she made for my mom. Grandma told my mom that if she or her kids ever put their feet on that quilt, that she would come back and haunt my mom. My grandma was very sick at the time. My mom said that was fine, whenever she missed her mom, she’d get all of us to jump on the quilt. Generations are tied together with quilts (Old quilt becomes symbol of family love).42D

A quilt, made with love, can warm the heart, soul, and cold toes, of all who it wraps in its story.

Hand quilted with my mom during the 1996 Olympics.

Hand quilting during 2008 Olympics & nephews quilt laid out underneath.

“And piña coladas in coconut shells” or the quilt I grab when I need to take a quick mental vacation and a reminder of friendships. One of the few I’ve kept.