Old 11-06-2016, 09:34 AM
  #18  
MargeD
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Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Lowell, MA
Posts: 14,083
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What a wonderful heirloom to pass on. None of the quilts my mother made survived 7 kids, and I am the "baby", although at 70 years old (or young, depending on what my day is like) so the only thing I have of my mother's are 2 pillowcases which she had embroidered. She gave me my first embroidery lesson when I was 6, and I have no idea where it went, given all the moves I have made; but I cherish those pillowcases. Unfortunately, she passed away 2 weeks after my DH returned from his tour in Viet Nam and my youngest brother had gotten married, I like to think she hung on until the two youngest were "taken care of". Anyway, long story short, about 25 years ago the family decided to have bi-annual family reunions, and 2 years after the first one in OH, we hosted the reunion. Previously my SIL had asked that each family pick a color to wear at the reunion so that our long lost uncle, my mom's youngest brother, was coming; and she thought it would make it easier if he could identify who belonged to whom. So in my infinite "wisdom" i decided to make a reunion quilt, with family members sending their "color" in fabric and I would make a quilt to be raffled off. I chose the album block and my oldest brother won it. I was not really into scrappy quilts then, but i somehow managed to make a really nice quilt, with the family colors: black, red, blue, teal, orange, purple and green, with one block for every family - that was my challenge. It was so well received that I have been doing it ever since, so a year or so before the reunion I get messages regarding "the color" of the next quilt. After so many, 12 or 13, I'm not sure, as my memory isn't what it used to be, quilts, I've decided to just go into my box of scraps from the previous quilts and make a true scrappy quilt. I could use some good ideas, if anyone would care to give me suggestions. Maybe next year I'll be able to win a quilt, or at least my son or daughter, but we'll see. Treasure that quilt always, it is a wonderful memory.
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