Just Checking In

Not much sewing is going on here right now, so I thought I would document a part of my family's quilting tradition.  Here is a bow tie quilt that I estimate to be more than 40 years old. 

See that bright zig zaggy fabric? Actually, it's impossible to avoid seeing it. I remember wearing a dress my mother made from that fabric in 1968.  It wasn't exactly my style, but I think she was trying her best to get me to out grow my shyness!  I'm not sure what it's made of, but it certainly is not 100% cotton. 

My mother had her hands full helping my father in his printing business, so she bundled up those remnants and gave them to my grandmother who made the quilt.  The blocks are huge, finishing at 15 inches.  I had forgotten about this quilt until my husband unearthed it at the ranch house.

In 1932 my grandfather died suddenly and my grandmother was left with a mortgaged farm, a few head of poorly bred cattle and three girls.  Through sheer grit and the help of some neighbors she survived the Great Depression and eventually owned her farm debt free.  She lived there independently until she was 91.  Whenever I start to worry about the current economic situation, I remind myself of how others came through even worse times.

Very few of my grandmother's quilts survive.  All of them, even the nicer ones, were used until they fell apart.  This one was probably among the last she made.