Have you ever stopped to ponder the incredible world we live in? I’ve always been an avid Little House on the Prairie fan. I still have the set of books I received for Christmas my 7th year.
My second grade school picture features me in a bonnet. Yes, I know it was odd. By the mid 1970’s, bonnets had long fallen out of fashion, but I didn’t care. I loved all things Little House on the Prairie.
To this day I still read Farmer Boy every fall. I used to read it to the kids. But the kids grew, as they are prone. Other activities vied for their time and attention. No matter. When the green fades from the leaves and the air become crisp with fall, I pull the book from my shelf and read it once again.
I love the stories about farming and family, and someday I will visit Almonzo’s boyhood home in Malone, New York.
Quilts made by my mom.
Sometimes I stop and contemplate Laura Ingalls Wilder and her life. It spanned 90 years, from 1867 to 1957. We know her stories. Traveling across the country in a covered wagon. Toiling with her family to create a life on the untamed frontier. Encountering fires, floods, sickness and all other manner of danger.
Yet, by the time she died, she’s witnessed the invention of the automobile and the availability of indoor plumbing, electricity and central heating. She could turn on a television, pick up a telephone or travel by airplane. Within a few short years of her death, we would put a man on the moon. The changes in her lifetime are simply staggering.
Another of my mom’s creations.
Available from Amazon.
Our world is still changing with unfathomable speed. I love the technologies that make life better. The ease in communication. Advances in medicine. The inventions that wash my clothes, clean my dishes and vacuum my floors.
But sometimes, in spite of (or maybe because of) all the advances and developments, I find myself gravitating to the traditional, the timeless.
A quilt made by my great-grandmother
One such timeless tradition is that of the quilt. Quilts have graced American beds for over two centuries and were an integral part of early American life. They have not grown obsolete nor, unlike my beloved bonnet, fallen out of fashion.
They are practical, beautiful, and versatile. They can work in a variety of decors, from farmhouse, to cottage, to cabin or even modern. Some are frilly and feminine, and others bold and masculine. They can possess a variety of colors and patterns or the top can be constructed from a single piece of fabric.
A masculine cabin quilt from Cabela’s.
A whole cloth quilt. One of my favorite types of quilts. (Image from apqs.com)
Because quilts could be pieced from small scraps of fabric, they were tremendously practical and provided a way to utilize items that otherwise had lost their usefulness. I love that! Taking something that would otherwise need to be discarded and using it to create something worthwhile, practical and beautiful!
I think about those women, our ancestors. I think about their strength, determination and resourcefulness, those traits that formed the foundation for our modern lives. Most of ancestors could never have begun to fathom the relative ease and prosperity that we have come to expect.
A quilt/duvet combo. I technique I created in order to combine my two favorite bed coverings … quilts and down comforters.
While most early quilts were utilitarian in nature, quilting also provided much needed social connections. Gathered around a quilting frame, women would sew, chat, and share life’s joys and struggles, knowing that their friendships were essential to their very survival.
We are not so different today. We might not know it, the way our great-grandmother’s knew it. We may not admit it. But we need each other still.
A photo quilt I created for my mother-in-law.
What was once a practical means of survival eventually became an art form it’s own right.
Today, quilts are available in wide variety of styles of colors and styles. Rachel Ashwell’s, Shabby Chic line at Target includes several soft, pastel, feminine quilts such as the blue and white shown below.
Overstock carries a nice selection of more modern and masculine quilts. One example is shown above.
Soon, a quilt will replace the down comforter that covers my bed through the winter months. I’ll wash it to remove the inevitable and unexplainable closet smells. I’ll hang it out on the clothesline, allowing the mountain air to permeate every fiber.
As I smooth it over my bed, I will again remember those women. I’ll remember their work, their creativity, their drive to survive and thrive in a hard land. I will imagine them, gathered around the quilting frame, sharing work and sharing life. I will be reminded to nurture and cherish friendship as if my survival depends on it.
Then, I’ll step back and smile at the practical beauty that is the quilt.
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I love the quilts that I have from three of my grandmother’s. Probably my favorite is the one that my grandma and the other PTA ladies made for a fundraiser when my m9m and her siblings were kids. A man who who worked with my grandpa won the quilt. My grandpa bought it from him for $10. My grandma gave it to me several years ago. My 2nd favorite quilt is one that has pieces from the material from dresses that either my grandma or mom made me when I was a child.