beachlady

Aren't memories just the greatest? Be sure to show us what you make with your grandmother's fabric.

Zoe

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

nursie76

Thank you for sharing.

wvdek

Thank you for taking us along on your stroll. It is a blessing to have such wonderful memories.

Elisabrat

Darren, Thank you for sharing your story. Its beautiful. Also it helps everyone else go down that same memory lane. I think your quilt Pieces of the Past is going to be lovely and more valuable to you than winning a lotto. You just can't buy memories or love. Now you can work with a whole pile of "love'.. a treasure to be sure. Makes me wish I had not been so pragmatic in distributing to charity all my families items. I am a get rid of it if you don't use it type person but when I read your post I think.. if only I had.. so I will create this type of memory for my own children and maybe they will experience this sense of wonder and thoughtful retrospect like you are right now. See, your gift is a gift too..

brushandthimble

Thank you Darren for taking us with you down memory lane:)
Beautiful memories.
Please post pictures of your blocks, scaps and quilts when you have them made.

GailG

Great story! It's amazing how these scents can open up a world of memories of our loved ones. I've had two special aunts who have passed away and "left their scents behind." I used to always love to visit their homes. It was something about being in that home with them. Let's just say I loved the way they smelled. Well, when they passed away there were no children to share their belongings, but many nieces and nephews. When the homes were opened for us, we all selected items that reminded us of them. Even today as I walk into one of our homes, I smell a familiar scent. A few weeks ago I walked into my daughter's living room and told her, "I think Aunt Maude is here." She pointed to one of her items. It still had the scent of her home. So Darren, thanks for the memories.

reneebobby

very nice memory.

HisPatchwork

Wonderful! Thanks for sharing,I love to hear about memories like this.It brings back memories I cherish also. Maybe more of us can find the time to share our quilty memories. I have 2 quilts from my grandmother. Never saw her work on them, but remember seeing parts of them now and then. She kept them in a closet when not working on them. I am making the memories I hope my grandchildren will cherish. I am teaching two of them to quilt and they are included in my quilt group. One started at 9 years. The second one, not to be out done, started when she was about 4 yrs by helping to pull the needle through on my first hand quilted quilt on a frame. I had to get her started on her own little project. {I have since bought them both a Janome sew mini- they are 13yrs and 9yrs now}Now the youngest, 19 mo, plays with fabric, sits on my lap when I sew, and generally loves to play in my sewing room while I am in there. I am blessed to be home to watch them while Mom and Dad work and school is out. I really miss them when they start school.

reginalovesfabric

Darren, what a lovely story. This is something that you should print out and save for your kids to read someday.
Let me tell you what I've been doing. A few weeks ago at my Sunday school class one of my friend told me she gave her sister in law my name. She was looking for someone to quilt for her. Since I have a machine I do quilting for the public. Once I called her she told me that she had two tops her mother has made for a long time since the woman died 18 years ago. I told her to wash the top and I'd meet her at Hancock we would need to border them to make them bigger. This top was a scrappy block with numerous colors.
I must admit it tuned out very pretty and I know this womans granddaughter will be proud.

Regina