Friday, July 11, 2008

Save the Quilts

I was at my grandmother and grandfather's cabin a mere 4 minutes when I picked up my camera and started taking pictures of stuff. Stuff that was discarded from their primary home, their vacation home, and anyone else's home in the family that had cast offs they didn't want to use anymore. Assembled in this jumbled way the cabin has always had a decor that we've teased and laughed about. But this trip I realized there were some true family treasures up there. Because I'd read about someone's obsession with vintage sheets recently I pulled back the blankets on every bed and took a peek. Sure enough vin-tage! But threadbare, as well. What caught my attention were the quilts I found.
Anyway, here are the pictures.... and a vase to boot.
There were four precious ones that I couldn't stop thinking about. Partly because the conditions of the cabin are far from archival and partly because I knew my great-grandmother had pieced or quilted them. Now that I myself have pieced and quilted a few quilts I know the time that went into the planning, piecing, quilting, binding, etc. I felt very strongly the quilts must be saved.

Presumably each quilt/blanket belongs to members of our family (none of them to me or my mother). I didn't know if they knew there were up there and the way they were being used. So of course I campaigned to my grandmother to save them. In long discussions -- most of which I think we misunderstood each other -- I think I succeeded in convincing her that the quilts needed to be restored and saved in another way than at the cabin. One is actually covered and then -- it kills me to say this -- tied together to make a newer blanket. When I brought this up to my grandma, wanting to know the full story, she told me it was her wedding quilt that was inside! O.M.G.


1 comment:

lera said...

It pains me to say this, BUT, when we bought our house it was filled with junk. We discarded like 10 tons of crap (no lie). Anyway, there were some quilts. The binding was not in good shape and my husband's grandmother said she would rebind them for me. We agreed. When I inquired about them later, she said SHE THREW THEM AWAY because they were in "too bad of shape." I almost threw up. I try to forget about the horror of it all, but it will always be there. In my mind. (Oh, and did I mention that we bought the house from her sister and the quilts were FAMILY quilts?????? Ye gads.)