one grandmother made simple scrappy squares into quilts and tied them. she would sit sometimes with me when i was little and tell me where each square came from- my mom's dress when she was 4, my uncle's good pants when he started school, etc.,
my other grandmother collected quilts. she had a wonderful log cabin quilt that went to my mom and dad and covered their bed for 20 yrs. and was going to come to me in the future. well, my sister got there first and was more persuasive.lol. but i won in the end--my grandmother had collected a silk satin and velvet graveyard quilt which as she told me was a crazy quilt made by a group and it was passed around to the members. when one of the quilters died the year was added to her block. the last quilter's family inherited the quilt. the blocks are embellished with lots of embroidery. gramma told me she knew it was a graveyard quilt because each block was 'fenced' in . that was my wedding present from my grandmother. my country grandma used to tuck us in under her winter quilts or summer quilts in vermont in an old iron bed. i thought it was sooo much better than sleeping at home! i have 3 country quilts that need to be repatched in places and definitely re'stuffed' and either tied or quilted. i expect i'll tie them since it's what they were. thanks for taking me back....