I so enjoyed reading your story with its memories. I posted just a few hours ago on another thread having to do with the way fabric speaks to us. I was helping a dear friend clean out her sewing room by taking boxes of what she called junk to the dump. Most of the boxes were filled with old papers, magazines, etc. My husband was filling the back of his truck with all this stuff when I thought I heard a small voice crying out "help me!" I freaked out when I realized this voice seemed to be coming from the box I was holding. I went through the papers and magazines on the top to discover over 300 hand sewn quilt squares hidden beneath. Sunbonnet Sue was the topmost square and it was she who was calling out to me. As I sorted through these treasures, I found many Sunbonnet Sues, many butterfly squares, some Amish Dahlias, some Crazy Quilt squares and others. I think the butterflies were trying to fly away from their entrapment in this box. When I asked my friend (now in her 80's) if she had forgotten about these squares, she said that she had indeed forgotten. Here is the part that made me weep; all these squares were hand sewn by her own late mother who lived to be 95! They would have been thrown away if I had not heard that small wee voice.
My friend wanted me to have these treasures, knowing how much I love these sort of things, but I could not do that. I did take enough Sunbonnet Sues and Butterflies to make my quilt, but the rest I gave to those women who had known both my friend and her mother.
Thank you for helping me to remember such poignant stories. :D