Quilts warm the heart

I haven’t made much progress on my alphabet reading challenge this year. I was doing great until my Q book. I love the book. It’s wonderful. But it’s also the wrong size. Rather than being a small book I can put in my bag, even if it is thick, it’s 12×12 inches. The awkward size means I don’t take it on the bus and that is where I do most of my reading. It should come as no surprise that my Q book is about quilting though. So I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about quilts.

Quilts serve a lot of functions in our lives. First off they keep us warm physically. Even in Tucson I’d put several quilts on my bed during the winter. There’s something comforting about sleeping under all that weight. I can get away with fewer blankets now, we didn’t pull out the down comforter last year, but it’s still nice to have that warm weight. And we have quilts and blankets at both of our couches to wrap up in for a nap.

Quilts can decorate too. My ice cream quilt is hanging above our bed right now. There is a quilt hanging right next to our front door (the idea is to have one for each of the seasons, but I haven’t quite gotten all the way there yet). I display another one over the quilt rack in the living room. I like them as decorations because they are soft and inviting.

My Q book talks about how quilts are used in Native American cultures. And one use is at death. Quilts cover the casket and are given away to commemorate the life of the person and thank all those who helped with the funeral or meant something to the family. I think I’d like a quilt on my casket at my funeral.

I’ve used quilts to commemorate other special events in life as well. High school graduations, weddings, births, Christmas, birthdays, thank yous. There are a lot of things you can say with a quilt, the main thing being that you are loved.

Quilts warm more than bodies, they warm hearts, souls, and memories.

Edit: I finished the book. The review can be found at “To Honor and Comfort“