Above: Grace's quilt top. We should have it quilted and bound by the end of summer.
Below: Beth's quilt from Nanny. It was finished in 1972. The pieces of fabric are from clothes I wore growing up or from Nanny's dresses. I love this quilt.
THE QUILT
I grew up in the hills of West Virginia, not the mountains that you often associate with WV, but the hills. We lived out a little 5 mile long road named Browns Creek Road at the top of Coal Mountain. My childhood home sat in the mouth of a hollow, and a small creek ran along side the house. It was a great great place to grow up.
My Nanny, my Daddy's mother, lived just up the road over a mile. As a very young child, I would go home with her from church on Wednesday nights and stay over with her until church on Sunday mornings. Once I was school age, I often rode the bus to her house to stay until my father or mother picked me up after work. As a teenager, I often took a couple of weeks during my summer and stayed at her house.
Nanny taught me lots of things, not through the "come here and let me show you method;" rather she taught me by simply living. I saw how she made pie crusts and the secrets she used to make them perfect. I felt the biscuit dough as she made biscuits and learned her secret to great biscuits. I still make her barbeque beans that she taught me to season by taste. When she gave me the recipe to her coconut cream cake, she also told me her little secret for making it so yummily moist. I learned my love for quilting by lying beneath the homemade quilting frame that my grandfather made for her and watching the needle punch through the fabric, seeing her nimble fingers grasp the needle beneath, and following the needle with my eyes as she pushed it through the back to the top, making the tiniest, neatest stiches.
One day warm day when I was quite young, I was lying beneath the quilting frame, watching her quilt, when I popped up and proclaimed, "Dis is my 'kilt, Nanny."
Nanny replied, "No, honey, this is my quilt, but I will make you a quilt for your wedding day."
The story goes on that I went on home with my parents, returning to her home in tears a few days later. She met me in the living room and as she hugged me, she asked me what was troubling me.
I replied, "Nanny, I've been twying and twying to get marr-weed, but no on will marr-we me."
The family gets a big kick out of sharing that story. That day, however, started a tradition and a promise that Nanny kept to each of us grandchildren. On our wedding days, she had for each of us six grandchildren a gift of a hand-made quilt and a set of pillow cases for which she did the needle work and made the lace.
The tradition continues. For each of my boys' eighth birthdays, I presented each of them with a hand-made quilt that I made for them. My thought was that these were practice quilts for me, twin/double size, and should easily see them through their college years. My hope is to make them a wedding quilt for their new life.
Grace's 8 year old quilt, however, was a totally different quilting technique and pattern than what I used for the boys. My life is much more complicated, and I don't truly have the time to spend that I would like to spend making her quilt. However, something special happened that makes Grace's quilt so very special to me.
Mother saw that Grace was really pushing for her quilt, so she asked if she could help. I agreed. Mother did all the applique and pieced the top of the quilt. I'll do the "in the ditch" quilting on my machine and bind the quilt. Mother will do the hand quilting in each square.
I share this story because it is such a precious tradition to me. I hope that someday Grace will continue the love and tradition by passing down a quilt she makes for her daughter or granddaughter. I have had fun working with my mother on Grace's quilt, which is another special detail in this tradition.
My Nanny, my Daddy's mother, lived just up the road over a mile. As a very young child, I would go home with her from church on Wednesday nights and stay over with her until church on Sunday mornings. Once I was school age, I often rode the bus to her house to stay until my father or mother picked me up after work. As a teenager, I often took a couple of weeks during my summer and stayed at her house.
Nanny taught me lots of things, not through the "come here and let me show you method;" rather she taught me by simply living. I saw how she made pie crusts and the secrets she used to make them perfect. I felt the biscuit dough as she made biscuits and learned her secret to great biscuits. I still make her barbeque beans that she taught me to season by taste. When she gave me the recipe to her coconut cream cake, she also told me her little secret for making it so yummily moist. I learned my love for quilting by lying beneath the homemade quilting frame that my grandfather made for her and watching the needle punch through the fabric, seeing her nimble fingers grasp the needle beneath, and following the needle with my eyes as she pushed it through the back to the top, making the tiniest, neatest stiches.
One day warm day when I was quite young, I was lying beneath the quilting frame, watching her quilt, when I popped up and proclaimed, "Dis is my 'kilt, Nanny."
Nanny replied, "No, honey, this is my quilt, but I will make you a quilt for your wedding day."
The story goes on that I went on home with my parents, returning to her home in tears a few days later. She met me in the living room and as she hugged me, she asked me what was troubling me.
I replied, "Nanny, I've been twying and twying to get marr-weed, but no on will marr-we me."
The family gets a big kick out of sharing that story. That day, however, started a tradition and a promise that Nanny kept to each of us grandchildren. On our wedding days, she had for each of us six grandchildren a gift of a hand-made quilt and a set of pillow cases for which she did the needle work and made the lace.
The tradition continues. For each of my boys' eighth birthdays, I presented each of them with a hand-made quilt that I made for them. My thought was that these were practice quilts for me, twin/double size, and should easily see them through their college years. My hope is to make them a wedding quilt for their new life.
Grace's 8 year old quilt, however, was a totally different quilting technique and pattern than what I used for the boys. My life is much more complicated, and I don't truly have the time to spend that I would like to spend making her quilt. However, something special happened that makes Grace's quilt so very special to me.
Mother saw that Grace was really pushing for her quilt, so she asked if she could help. I agreed. Mother did all the applique and pieced the top of the quilt. I'll do the "in the ditch" quilting on my machine and bind the quilt. Mother will do the hand quilting in each square.
I share this story because it is such a precious tradition to me. I hope that someday Grace will continue the love and tradition by passing down a quilt she makes for her daughter or granddaughter. I have had fun working with my mother on Grace's quilt, which is another special detail in this tradition.
I love family traditions and stories!
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