Mother's Quilt

In 1932 when my mother was 9 years old, she lived with her older sister in Amarillo, Texas. This was during the time when most of the farmers were or going broke. Since there was no such thing as Television, Little girls had to learn to do things around the house. One of the things they all learned was needlework. My mother was excellent at any type of needlework there was. She even embroidered quilt squares on old flour sacks. Re-cycling was a necessity, not a statement. THese old Muslin squares were hidden in an old box for years until they were discovered when my Aunt died. Mother had embroidered these 20 squares, and appliqued little Sunbonnet Sues made from her own old dresses. All of the stitches were done by her little hand, no machine was used. The stitches are perfect, and even the back of the squares was perfect. I however will have mother rolling over in her plastic box at the bottom of the pacific ocean...I am using a machine!!!!



I decided that I would finish these squares, and put them into a quilt top and then into a quilt. The problem was trying to decide how to connect them together so that it didnt look too modern. All of the material I found was too bright, too new to go with the muted patterns of her old dresses. One day while wandering in an old store in Fallon, Nevada, I ran into a tiny print of calico flowers, which had all of the colors that were in The Squares. I bought it and Now I am in the process of connecting these squares to form the quilt top.



I cut all of the strips to the measurments of the squares, BUT I forgot about the centers where the strips all meet. Once I had connected them I found the "hole" in the center. OK, all is not lost, I found some material the same color as the muslin background, and I am making SQUARES to cover the HOLEs in the middle. :-) Am I not smart? I also will put a plain colored border around it all and then make the binding out of the calico flowered print. THe back is a nice soft baby flannel in the same beige color as the rest.



By next week, I will have the top finished, then all I will have left is putting the batting on and then the backing, and then the binding. After that is all done comes the really hard part!!! The quilting!!!!! I may opt out for the traditional tie in the middle of the corners, with just a simple quilt stitch around the girl.

I am really excited about finishing this. It has been over 72 years in the making, and It is so beautiful that it needs to be used and enjoyed. I remember the warm Comforting feeling I had when I was all hunkered down under an old quilt we girls had on the bed. OH WAIT!! That was Phyllis wetting the bed!!!