The Family Quilt

My dining room looks like an entire  luggage cart exploded, and not in the good way.

In  a futile attempt to sort for laundering, there are  piles of clothes everywhere.  Combining swimsuits,  linen shirts, wool socks, cotton tank tops, wool sweaters,  sandal socks and long-sleeved heavy wovens into compatible loads presents a unique laundry challenge.  I also have all kinds of keepsake treasures, sympathy cards, a guest book, a tie that belonged to Dad, and over in the corner laid over a chair -  the family quilt.  It did not start out being called that, but has become that as a result of life (and death) just....  happening.

The double wedding ring quilt was originally a gift to my parents on their 45th wedding anniversary in 1995.   My sister Pat pieced the top and she mailed it to me for the hand quilting.  I had it spread out on my dining room table for what seemed like an eternity (I was new to quilting at the time) and when I finished my part  I mailed it to my sister Peg who did the binding. (Note to Peg  - We still all believe you farmed it out to someone else to do the beautiful, turned edge binding.  I'm just sayin'....) We gave it to them on their anniversary and they had it on their bed for many years.

In 2001 we lost Mom to pancreatic cancer.  Shell shocked and grieving, we at least had the presence of mind to know her casket should be draped with a quilt - but which one?  She had made so many beautiful quilts.  We decided on this one and it looked just beautiful.  Our plan was to cut the quilt in to 3 pieces (for each of the 3 daughters who made it) and call it good.  Thankfully, as we stood there with a scissors in hand we realized that if we cut up that quilt we would have the unholy wrath of our mother upon our heads for all eternity.  So we left it with Dad. He put it back on his bed and for the next almost-10 years he kept it as a keepsake of her.

Those ten years were a tremendous gift.  Mom always said, "When you call home, if a man answers - hang up."  Mom wanted to be the first on any scoop.  Consequently,  Dad always played back-up to Mom so those first visits home post-Mom were a little strange.  We actually had long,  terrific  conversations.  I learned so much about him, his youth, his life, just everything - and it was wonderful.  Bonus - we had some seriously great laughs. I always took a hand sewing project home with me, I think he liked watching me sew and it removed the necessity of feeling like I always had to have something to say.  I have great memories of watching football and baseball games with Dad, chatting, silent, commenting, silent, sewing, silent....... redefining "quality time" in a way I hope you are all lucky enough to realize in your lifetimes.

In the past few years his health plummeted, the Parkinsons ramped up and was joined by dementia and a host of other issues.  He moved from assisted living to nursing home to skilled nursing care.  His death is a most conflicted mess of emotions - I cry for both grief at losing him and relief that his suffering was finally and  mercifully at an end.

Out came the family quilt, placed lovingly on his casket.  It looked so right. The other half of that wedding-ring couple was reunited  and things just seemed to be back in balance.  As a family we have decided that the quilt will be placed on all of our caskets (or urns placed on top of it) when we leave this earth.  I like the eternity of the linking circles in the quilt, the connection with our parents that it represents, and the fact that it is a physical, touchable reminder of the power of  love  - the love of our family, and especially the love of the two people who gave us life.

Sidebar:  When  Grandma Major (Dad's mother) was in the nursing home, my mother made her a lap quilt out of scraps of our old dresses and pantsuits.  This was so long ago that most of the squares were polyester double knit (eeessh).   We still have the precious keepsake and it was covering Dad when he left us. The hospice worker on the final  night vigil had with her a Methodist hymnal.   While baptized a Catholic when he married my mother, he was born and raised as a Methodist.

How is that for interlocking bands coming into full-circle perfection?

A Visit to the Mothership

Two weeks ago we left for what  (we thought) was going to be a week-long vacation on Key Largo.  Since Joe and I carry the dubious distinction of being the oldest people from Gloucester that have never been to Florida  it was kind of a big deal.  We had a wonderful time, realized that the ocean in Florida was just like Gloucester (only warmer and with palm trees) and managed to be spoiled rotten by our wonderful host and bestest-buddy ever.  Things came to a screeching halt about four days in to the trip when we got the call that my darling Dad had joined my mother in eternal rest. (That is about all I can say about that right now.... I need some time.....)

We found ourselves at the mercy of American Airlines  ( FYI - they HAVE no mercy) and flew back to Gloucester, dumped all the summer clothes in the dining room, repacked the late-winter clothes and flew off the next day (on Delta, thankyouverymuch)  to Lincoln, Nebraska.  The next few days are a bit of a blur (again,  I need some time here......) but on the day before we flew back to Massachusetts my sister-in-law and I made a visit to the International Quilt Study Center (AKA "THE MOTHERSHIP") in Lincoln.  I always go when I am home  and it never disappoints.  With luck (and the divine intervention of my quilting mother) the Marseille: White Corded Quilting  exhibit was there to give us a fall-down-on-the-floor,  shut-my-mouth-wide-open look into the stunningly beautiful art of French quilted and corded needlework.  I was so blown away I forgot to get the exhibition catalog.  RATS.  (I'll order it from the IQSC because they need the funds much more than Amazon and for pete's sake  you have got to SUPPORT these places, people.)

As luck would also have it, the other exhibit was Nebraska Quilts and Quiltmakers. We have covered (at great length) my goobering admiration of the quilts of  "Amazing" Grace Snyder.  My personal favorite, Mrs. McGill's Cherries, was there hanging in all it's glory:

[gallery link="file" order="DESC" orderby="ID"]

IMPORTANT NOTE:  The IQSC allows photography (no flash) in the galleries.  It is very important to take note of and respect ALL  museum photography policies.  I'm just sayin'......  These are grainy because they were done on my phone, sorry.

It was so nice to have another  up-close  look at Grace's fantastic quilt.  It reminded me that my attempt at copying it has languished, needs to be revived,  and put on the very top of my list.   This was all made very clear to me by the fact that not only was I standing in front of it (duh), but 24 hours prior I was putting flowers on the grave of my Grandpa and Grandma (wait for it......) McGill.  It also marked the 100th anniversary of her arrival on Ellis Island on board the RMS Campania.   How great is all of that?   Jack and Mac are back together and Mrs. McGill's cherries (in the form of her children, grandchildren, great and great-great grandchildren)  were all there in the ultimate celebration of life, love and the Resurrection.

A blessed Easter to you and all you love.

Pot Holder Quilts? Seriously?

Thankfully, not  so much.   About a year and a half ago at a staff meeting (I work at the New England Quilt Museum)  we were discussing upcoming exhibits when the topic of "pot holder quilts" came up as one of our future exhibitions.  I was appalled - POT HOLDERS?  Seriously?  That sounds like a Ronco / Ron Popeil Pocket Fisherman Gadget Making Thingie.  And talk about tacky - POT HOLDER QUILTS? Sheesh. It is hard enough to get respect as a quilter without people thinking we make  quilts out of sewing potholders together.  Further discussion revealed that they were NOT made out of potholders, but utilized the same technique as in  making pot holders.  Each individual block was  about one foot square, quilted, then bound.  (The binding is what sets them apart from the quilt-as-you-go quilts that have the back and front seams joined without binding.)  Who knew?  I sure did not.

[caption id="attachment_1736" align="alignleft" width="263" caption="by Emily (Wiley) Munroe, c. 1865 Collection of the New England Quilt Museum"][/caption]

You can imagine my delight when I realized one of my favorite quilts in the entire NEQM collection  (the Emily Munroe quilt, pictured here) is  - wait for it - a potholder quilt!  It is actually a pretty intriguing idea, certainly portable, and SO much easier (as a hand quilter) to get up close and personal with your blocks when there isn't an armload of  fabric to wrestle in and out of a frame.  (I'm sure I could quilt 15 stitches to the inch if I could get that close to my needle...  or not.) The quilts that have arrived have been much older (starting in 1837) than I would have ever believed possible.  One quilt has small, stamped signature blocks with elegant, inked calligraphy.  I haven't seen the  more contemporary ones yet, they are set up in the workroom undergoing prep and condition reports before the exhibit goes up later this week.  I love sneaking in there for a peek.  It's a job perk.

Thankfully, we are not calling it "Yee Haw, Pot Holder Quilts - Come and Get Your Dinner!"

One Foot Square, Quilted and Bound opens at the New England Quilt Museum on April 14 and runs through July 10, 2011.   LOADS of Civil War references and stories in the older quilts. I'll include a link to the website because there are  lectures and even a demo of  techniques scheduled for later this month.  If you live far away and cannot visit in person I encourage you to  look in to this interesting technique.  It offers some intriguing possibilities.  On the down side,  my #1 job hazard is that every time we open a new show  I become utterly convinced I MUST MAKE ONE  of whatever type of quilt the show is featuring.  It's exhausting.  This time, however, if I lose interest I can always use them as .......potholders.  #WINNING !

My Peeps!

Literally!   I confess - I succumbed to an impulse purchase at the grocery store. PLUSH PEEPS!  They are adorable.  I might have go back and get the bunnies.  I took these out of the box, cut off the ugly yellow label and just posted them randomly on my mantle in the family room.  They look like the real thing. They also stare out into the room as if to say, "Hmm,  I wonder how we ended up here?"

PS - Am I the only aficionado  of stale peeps?  Take them out of the package, break them up & let them sit in a bowl for a couple of days.  They get a nice crispy crunch when you bite in to them.   MMmmmmm.

Quilting's Not-So-Civil War

With the approaching anniversary,  Civil War quilts and reproductions are all the rage.  Kind of ironic that a not-so-Civil-War appears to be raging among quilters.   I  am not surprised by it - I have found many  quilters to be either the best or worst of people.  Yeah,   I said it.  I went there.   I will confess to being a former quilt snob but never a QB (Quilt Bitch).

Quilt Bitch - (noun). \ˈkwil-t\ \ˈbich\.  1) A person convinced of their self-superior knowledge of quilting.  2) An omnipotent judge of everyone else's inferior quilting taste, techniques, color and fabric. 3) A snarky, self-absorbed person who is compelled to "grade the paper" of everyone else's work with  LOUD and unsolicited criticism. 4) A person who believes in the paramount value and superiority of everything they themselves create.

QB's.  We all know one, and if we're honest - we'd admit to knowing several.  They are out there, those trolls who seek to suck the inherent joy and satisfaction that quilting brings to all who undertake it with open hearts. The latest salvo in the quilting wars has caused quite a stir. Apparently, there is someone out there proclaiming that contemporary quilts aren't "hard" or "complicated" enough to qualify as "real" quilts.  (I won't give the blowhard/nimrod  blog space, just Google it if you want to know more.)

My question - why do people need to do this? Why are they so driven to pass judgment?  I haven't a clue why anyone would want to make a Sunbonnet Sue quilt (and I mourn the waste of good fabric) but hell, if it floats your boat go nuts.  Sometimes I look at quilts I have made in years past and wonder what the hell I was thinking. I confess I used to look on anything that wasn't made of traditional or historic reproduction fabrics as "meh" but I never once dissed them.  I just did not understand them.  Thankfully that has changed and now I'm open to just about anything. I may not like it but I can always learn something from looking at it and reading about what the quilter had in mind.

So how to deal with QB's?  I offer the following:

1. Refer them to the SMUG ALERT episode of South Park.  (hysterical, wicked pissah funny)


2. Avoid them.  You can never "hug it out" with a QB. Don't feed the trolls.


3. Stare at them.  Don't say a word.  Just stare at them. Silence best conveys your opinion of theirs.


4. If you are one or see yourself in the definition above, knock it the hell off.

It is difficult to get props for being a quilter - there are enough people out there who think we are all  grannys in long dresses and white lacy caps and have no teeth.  Those who attack from within our ranks are a cancer and need to be starved of attention so they will shrivel and fade away.

Think a QB is harsh? Meh.  When I hear one of them crush the fledgling spirit of a new quilter I can't find my purse-sized  photon torpedo launcher fast enough.  If  you QB's want a war, you have one.  And it won't be civil.