My mom has always been very creative and gifted when it comes to creating things. When we were growing up a lot of my clothes were sewn by either her or my Grandma. My mom always had some kind of embroidery or handwork that she worked on and as the years passed she got interested in quilting as well. I suspect that that gene got passed along to both my sister, Paula, and myself as we both loved to cross stitch and do a variety of sewing projects over the years.
Those sewing projects included making matching outfits for the cousins at Christmas time. This went on for quite a few years. We would pick a fabric that seemed to work with both boys and girls and shirts, pants and dresses were made to be worn for picture times when the family all gathered. Looking at those pictures definitely makes me laugh and most likely makes my boys cringe.
4 of the cousins in their matching outfits
But those memories also provided another tangible piece of handcrafted love. My mom decided to make a cathedral window quilt. Her goal was to make the quilt as unique as she possibly could and to have every single square feature a different design. That was a lofty goal for a quilt that is large enough to cover a queen size bed but she achieved it.
She has a piece of paper filed away somewhere that documents how many hours was spent in making the quilt and probably how many squares there actually are as well. That will be a post for another day but today I wanted to share some pictures of this amazing labor of love.
There are so many fabric swatches that have memories associated with them. As I took pictures of the quilt I could identify quite a few that were from things that I had sewn or were from articles of clothing that were sewn for me. It was like taking a walk back in time.
I especially loved finding ones that were associated with my two boys.
This came from a little outfit that Micah wore as a toddler.
This was the fabric used in Aaron’s nursery.
My niece had a Raggedy Ann themed room growing up and this was from my sister’s stash.
A candy cane from one of those cousin Christmas outfits.
A Halloween tablecloth featured black cats and spider webs.
Another cousin Christmas outfit if I remember correctly.
Another Halloween tablecloth scrap put to good use in the quilt.
This one takes me way back. I had a yellow dress with a smiley face fabric pinafore over it. My favorite dress growing up.
My mother has graciously gifted the quilt to me and while I do not have it on the bed right at the moment I love having it in my house. Knowing all of the time and love that was put into crafting each and every square makes me smile and I am blessed to be able to have this memory quilt of sorts.
Do you have anything in your possession that was created with love and passed down through the generations that serves as a reminder of a time gone by? I would love to hear all about it in the comments section. Don’t forget to comment for Comments for a Cause
.
