Picture of the day - October 16, 2005

A Very Special Quilt

My mom has always loved quilting. Had she kept a count of them, she would probably tell you she has made over 1,000 quilts in her long lifetime - each one carefully and lovingly handcrafted from whatever scraps of material she had on hand at the time. Mom's quilting "career" began when she was barely old enough to hold a needle. Back when she was growing up, making quilts wasn't a hobby - it was a necessity. Please allow me to explain... Times were very hard in the Appalachian Mountains back when my mom was a girl. Jobs were scarce and low-paying (when you found one), and families were large. The entire family had to work in order to have enough food to eat and clothes to wear. Children were required to do many chores so there was little time for playing. Mom tells how she and her sister Viola would pull a wagon around their small town of Damascus, VA picking up dirty laundry from the townspeople. The kids would carry water from the river for grandma to wash the clothes in. She would then hang them out to dry, iron and fold them, and then mom and Viola would take the clean laundry back to its owners in that same little wagon - all for 50 cents a load! And then there was the quilting... With a house full of "young-uns" to raise and very little money to do it with, clothes were handed down from oldest to youngest until they simply couldn't be repaired any more. The "good" parts of the cloth were cut up into small blocks and used to make quilts. Nothing was wasted. Grandma taught mom how to quilt just as soon as she was old enough, and the simple, yet beautiful patchwork quilts they made kept everyone warm during the harsh winters. Mom learned to love quilting as a young girl and she still loves it to this day! Although she's no longer able to quilt like she once did, she will make one if someone asks her to. She made the beautiful quilt in today's picture for me and my wife, and one of the first things we did after moving into our new house this week was hang this wonderful work of art on the wall. It was a very special gift from one of God's most faithful and loving children - just a small stitch in the fabric of mom's life that Cheria and I will treasure as long as we live. And every time we walk down the hallway in our new home we'll be reminded of an amazing woman who sacrificed much for her parents, her siblings, her husband and her children - the true "blocks" in the "quilt" that is her life.   Picture Of The Day Homepage | Submit a photo Interesting Articles