I remember as a child watching my grandmother quilt, as she did she would tell stories of when she was a child and how the quilts her mother and grandmother made kept them warm through the rough winters, and how as many as 6 or 8 kids would pile up under the quilts at nite, or how they would put quilts on the hay in the back of wagons and go on hayrides. As she talked her fingers never stopped working each stitch through the fabric that was cut from old clothes. As I grew i never lost the love for quilting but never really got to do any until later in my life. As each of my babies were born I would make them a little quilt and I remember each stitch was put into that quilt with love.

To take a piece of clothe and make a quilt may not seem like much to some but to anyone who loves to do it, it is so much more, you are taking clothe and making art from it, you are shaping it and molding it to form beautiful pieces of art that can be passed down from generation to generation and with each passing there are stories to be told with it.

I have the quilt my grandmother made for me when I was born it is a appliqued Dutch Girl and it is 48 years old. My mother kept it until just last year when she passed it on down to me as I will pass it on down to my daughter one day and hopefully she will pass it to hers.

Quilting is a wonderful way to keep our loved ones alive, when my grandmother was alive she always wore aprons so when she passed away her son took all of her aprons to a lady and had her make a quilt out of them. Its a small part of her that he will be able to keep until he passes then one of his kids will have it. Each family member has certain things they wear alot and to take those and preserve them in a quilt is a wonderful way to keep them with us.

I would love to see this dying art make a come back and for people to learn of their family history by listening to mothers and grandmothers and great grandmothers weave stories of days gone by as they weave the thread through the fabric that will keep their loved ones warm

Written by: Elaine Mackin

Sheridan, Ar.  www.godrulz.wetpaint.com