Grandma’s Quilt Block

The fabric scraps she cut with care.
All sorts of shapes placed here and there
to form a block, then two, then three…
Put them together- a quilt for me.

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Our community’s historical society has some quilts that women in the years gone by have made.  They brought them to the quilt club that I attend.  Some were made at the turn of the century and some in the early 1900’s.  Some were family quilts that were made by several different members of that family.  Some were made with feed sacks as that is what they had and some were made by churches and clubs in the community.  Women would gather together to stitch and chatter and make something useful for someone in need. 

“Behind every quilter is a big pile of fabric.”  So true

I was delighted to see on one of the quilts the handiwork of my grandmother Mable.  She moved to the community as a young bride and her applique skills were evident.  The women embroidered their names on the block that they completed and then all the blocks were sewn together and quilted.  This grandmother was well known for her knitting skills.  I still have the vests that she knitted for my children when they were young.  As a young girl she tried her best to teach me to knit and I did learn the process well.  However, I started making a sweater that quickly turned into a dog sweater and then a kitty sweater and then it was never completed.  I was a bit of a disappointment to her in that regard.

I have quilts in my home that were made by the hands of my Granny, my dear mother-in-law, a niece and by me.  I found when I retired from working that quilting was intriguing to me, unlike the knitting.  I have made a king sized quilt for all four of my children and am now working on a quilt for our bed.  Some of the quilts at my house are machine quilted and some are tied. 

“When you are quilting up a life, you sometimes got to start with any piece you can get your hands on.”

• Jonathan Odel

I live in the house that my grandmother, Mable lived in.  She and my grandfather had this house moved onto our farm in the 1940’s.  I love to think of her sitting in her chair and knitting a sweater or preparing my grandpop a delicious meal of fried chicken.  She had a huge garden and raised four children here on this place.  It was so sweet to see that block in the quilt she made so many years ago and to think of the very special friends that gathered to chatter and create with their hands. 

“Our lives are like quilts – bits and pieces, joy and sorrow, stitched with love.”