Every Quilt Tells a Story
09-04-2025, 04:08 PM
#1
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2021
Posts: 186
Every Quilt Tells a Story
This is my version of Quiltville’s 2024 Mystery quilt called ‘Old Town’, inspired by Bonnie Hunter’s visit to Poland.
All of my grandparents grew up in small Polish villages, known in Yiddish as ‘Shtetls’ by the Jews who lived there for 500 years until the Second World War. Think Fiddler on the Roof.
Though the stories I heard from my grandparents about Poland mostly dealt with the brutality and horror of the Holocaust, I wondered if the sights, sounds and smells that inspired Bonnie’s design would have been familiar to them from their youth.
And so I decided to make this quilt to honour those who lived, worked, laughed and loved in the Shtetls for generations before the darkness fell.
I hope they are proud of me.
And I hope Bonnie forgives me for renaming my quilt the Shtetl Quilt.
Interestingly, the first clue dropped on the day my granddaughter was born. Maybe one day I will gift it to her as a reminder that we are all just a link in a chain.
All of my grandparents grew up in small Polish villages, known in Yiddish as ‘Shtetls’ by the Jews who lived there for 500 years until the Second World War. Think Fiddler on the Roof.
Though the stories I heard from my grandparents about Poland mostly dealt with the brutality and horror of the Holocaust, I wondered if the sights, sounds and smells that inspired Bonnie’s design would have been familiar to them from their youth.
And so I decided to make this quilt to honour those who lived, worked, laughed and loved in the Shtetls for generations before the darkness fell.
I hope they are proud of me.
And I hope Bonnie forgives me for renaming my quilt the Shtetl Quilt.
Interestingly, the first clue dropped on the day my granddaughter was born. Maybe one day I will gift it to her as a reminder that we are all just a link in a chain.
09-04-2025, 05:15 PM
#2
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Peoria, IL -- Midwest Transplant
Posts: 7,260
Beautiful finish LI Diva! And nice to have family history to connect. I always learn something while working on my projects, some times it has very little to do with quilting or sewing.
09-05-2025, 07:51 AM
#7
Power Poster
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Ontario, Canada
Posts: 18,340
Beautifully done ... and more so, with your story.
PLEASE be sure to document that story with a label!
Curious? are the colours anything significant to your heritage?
Or just the story of your stash and scraps?
Thanks!
PLEASE be sure to document that story with a label!
Curious? are the colours anything significant to your heritage?
Or just the story of your stash and scraps?
Thanks!
09-05-2025, 01:06 PM
#8
Junior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2021
Posts: 186
Thanks, everyone <3.
QuiltE, Bonnie releases a colour palette about a month before she starts dropping the clues. I mostly used stash fabric, but purchased some to comply with my understanding of that palette.
She writes about how she was inspired by the art and textiles in old Polish villages.
I actually didn’t have enough fabric to back the quilt, so I pieced a backing using a bunch of orphan blocks from this and other projects. So I suppose there’s even more history there!
QuiltE, Bonnie releases a colour palette about a month before she starts dropping the clues. I mostly used stash fabric, but purchased some to comply with my understanding of that palette.
She writes about how she was inspired by the art and textiles in old Polish villages.
I actually didn’t have enough fabric to back the quilt, so I pieced a backing using a bunch of orphan blocks from this and other projects. So I suppose there’s even more history there!
09-05-2025, 07:38 PM
#10
Super Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Minnesota
Posts: 4,866
This is my version of Quiltville’s 2024 Mystery quilt called ‘Old Town’, inspired by Bonnie Hunter’s visit to Poland.
All of my grandparents grew up in small Polish villages, known in Yiddish as ‘Shtetls’ by the Jews who lived there for 500 years until the Second World War. Think Fiddler on the Roof.
Though the stories I heard from my grandparents about Poland mostly dealt with the brutality and horror of the Holocaust, I wondered if the sights, sounds and smells that inspired Bonnie’s design would have been familiar to them from their youth.
And so I decided to make this quilt to honour those who lived, worked, laughed and loved in the Shtetls for generations before the darkness fell.
I hope they are proud of me.
And I hope Bonnie forgives me for renaming my quilt the Shtetl Quilt.
Interestingly, the first clue dropped on the day my granddaughter was born. Maybe one day I will gift it to her as a reminder that we are all just a link in a chain.
All of my grandparents grew up in small Polish villages, known in Yiddish as ‘Shtetls’ by the Jews who lived there for 500 years until the Second World War. Think Fiddler on the Roof.
Though the stories I heard from my grandparents about Poland mostly dealt with the brutality and horror of the Holocaust, I wondered if the sights, sounds and smells that inspired Bonnie’s design would have been familiar to them from their youth.
And so I decided to make this quilt to honour those who lived, worked, laughed and loved in the Shtetls for generations before the darkness fell.
I hope they are proud of me.
And I hope Bonnie forgives me for renaming my quilt the Shtetl Quilt.
Interestingly, the first clue dropped on the day my granddaughter was born. Maybe one day I will gift it to her as a reminder that we are all just a link in a chain.
And don't worry about Bonnie. She will be thrilled that you made her design and equally honored by your story.
Leslie
