I Have a Quilt in Heaven!

My husband as a baby, probably taken in 1953, he was around one year old.

My mother-in-law at her confirmation, she was 13 years old in this picture.

My mother-in-law as a baby. This picture was probably taken in 1920.

The Arkansas Cross Roads Quilt made in 1996. My first "mystery quilt".



The company is gone and we had a wonderful visit. I sure love my family. This was the first Thanksgiving that the company was from my side of the family. Traditionally it was hubby's side being that he is sometimes a Turkey for his Nov. birthday and he grew up with Thanksgiving in his home each year. The last time we were able to celebrate with his mom was five years ago. The last time she traveled here was in 2005 during the summer for a wedding. We knew at the time it was her last trip, she told us so! And travel does get really hard the older you get. We still miss her and have lots of great Thanksgiving Day memories with her and dad. The picture of her was taken by my best guess in 1920. We see some of her grand daughers faces in the photo.

The picture of the quilt above is one I made for her around 1996. It is called Arkansas Cross Roads and I made it when we lived overseas. There was a quilting group with many talented ladies and much creativity. This one was made as a "mystery quilt" and is something I had never participated in before. The group met each week and the construction of the quilt was done in steps, but the full final pattern of the quilt was not revealed until the last step. The first step was simply choosing the fabrics and in this project we were told to choose fabrics based more on color intensity, pale, medium and rich colors, a certain yardage of each. The second week was cutting strips of various lengths, then sewing strips together and cutting. As each week progressed we followed the specific directions and after twelve weeks we each had a unique quilt top. Some went with all shades of one color, even one did blacks, grays and white. It was a great project to show how the "same" can have such a wonderful variety.

This particular quilt is now in heaven with my mom-in-law. She was one that really USED it, every day. It was on her favorite chair and she used it to stay cozy. I am so glad to know that it gave her some warmth and comfort and maybe even a little pleasure in its beauty. And it was a beautiful, simple quilt. I tied this one instead of quilting. Since it was made for her, lots of prayers were attached specifically for her. I hope she knows I loved her and was glad to call her family.