Thursday, December 22, 2011

A Priceless Moment

A couple nights ago, I stole away a few hours in my sewing room.  First, I quilted a baby quilt for my neighbors that I'd been procrastinating on.  My walking foot just isn't cutting it.  It's past time to get my machine cleaned & serviced, but I don't want to do without it even for a couple days.  Maybe in January...  Then I worked on arranging my Bento Blocks.  I still need two more blocks to get the size I'd like.  My phone is acting up, so I can't upload the pictures I want. :(

After all that progress, I decided to work on the blocks I got from my great grandmother.  If you'll recall, the last time I visited my grandmother, I found these in her barn.  Naturally, I rescued them along with a hefty sized bag of scraps.  The scraps were from all sorts of places.  Some were scraps from dresses she made herself & others were scraps from discarded clothing from family members.  I found some denim (just a 2x3 piece), a bit of canvas cammo (a 3x4 piece), feed sack scraps out the wazoo, vintage sheets & much more.  Not everything is 100% cotton, but it's all old.



Before sewing together squares, I decided I'd better iron them and that's when it happened.  The heat of the iron brought out the smell of my great grandmother.  Grandma Nell died at least 14 or 15 years ago and these blocks have been out in a barn since, but they somehow retained her scent.  Just like that, I was transported back in time and was overcome with the feeling that she was looking down and smiling at me.  My quilting journey started after she passed away, so she didn't realize that I'd carry on the tradition she was known for.  I'm so happy to get to work on one of her UFOs.  I plan to back it and bind it with feed sacks from my collection.  I've been saving them for something special and I am pretty sure this qualifies.


2 comments:

craftytammie said...

it will be a treasure :)

Melody said...

I love it! I found some scraps from my great grandmother but they were so far gone from having a pin stuck through them and sitting in the humid basement of my parent's home in KC. I never did figure out the pattern the cut pieces were meant for. Good luck.