I took some time this morning to photograph our quilts. The light in our house was very blue today so I only have two photos for you now.
This striped quilt was made for me from my grandmother and her youngest sister. I had bought the patterned fabric when I was in high school. I gave up on whatever project I intended the fabric for and gave it to the quilters. I didn't think they would make a quilt for me, I just thought they might add the fabric to their stash. They did a simple quilting pattern on the stripes, It looks like stems with leaves.
This quilt:
was made, again, by my grandmother and my great aunt. They gave it to Mr. Happy and I on our wedding day. The colours may not have been what I would have chosen for us at the time, but I appreciated the love and work that went into it. We've had the quilt on our bed ever since we moved into our house. If you could see our house, you'd understand why the quilt "works" so well here.
If you look closely at the photo, you'll see that the mattress stitching is torn on the leaves of one of the squares (second from bottom, on the right). Bentley, my only dog, and the only dog my grandmother and great-aunt have ever agree was a "good dog", ripped those stitched when he was "nesting" on our bed one day. I would fix it, but it's a little remembrance of him as well.
Not long after we moved into our house, we inherited the bed you see in the photo. It's not fancy, but I love it. My grandmother and my great-aunt also gave this to us. I think it was my great-grandparents' bed at one time. It makes me laugh when I think about my great-grandparents sleeping in this bed. My great-grandmother was a short woman, but my great-grandfather was over six feet tall. I don't know how he managed to fit between the headboard and the footboard! That height is something I did NOT inherit.
The three other quilts have white in them, so they didn't photograph well today. Perhaps next weekend.
This striped quilt was made for me from my grandmother and her youngest sister. I had bought the patterned fabric when I was in high school. I gave up on whatever project I intended the fabric for and gave it to the quilters. I didn't think they would make a quilt for me, I just thought they might add the fabric to their stash. They did a simple quilting pattern on the stripes, It looks like stems with leaves.
This quilt:
was made, again, by my grandmother and my great aunt. They gave it to Mr. Happy and I on our wedding day. The colours may not have been what I would have chosen for us at the time, but I appreciated the love and work that went into it. We've had the quilt on our bed ever since we moved into our house. If you could see our house, you'd understand why the quilt "works" so well here.
If you look closely at the photo, you'll see that the mattress stitching is torn on the leaves of one of the squares (second from bottom, on the right). Bentley, my only dog, and the only dog my grandmother and great-aunt have ever agree was a "good dog", ripped those stitched when he was "nesting" on our bed one day. I would fix it, but it's a little remembrance of him as well.
Not long after we moved into our house, we inherited the bed you see in the photo. It's not fancy, but I love it. My grandmother and my great-aunt also gave this to us. I think it was my great-grandparents' bed at one time. It makes me laugh when I think about my great-grandparents sleeping in this bed. My great-grandmother was a short woman, but my great-grandfather was over six feet tall. I don't know how he managed to fit between the headboard and the footboard! That height is something I did NOT inherit.
The three other quilts have white in them, so they didn't photograph well today. Perhaps next weekend.
What lovely keepsakes. My grandma was a seamstress (hah! still is, at 80 she can't refuse business from people who have been customers for decades, even though she'd rather just spend all of her last days playing bridge) but never much of a quilter; when we were kids she made my brother and I each a wacky, tacky quilt of large squares of polyester left over from sewing jobs, tied not quilted. Mine was mostly brown and green, his pale blue and yellow. They fell apart long ago, and I hadn't seen mine in years when one day I got into my dad's car and found it folded up and being used as a seat cushion; it was beyond saving at that point. Argh. I still want it back, even if it was a stretch-polyester monstrosity.
ReplyDeleteWhoops! But what I really wanted to say was, I love your bedroom wallpaper! Was it there when you bought the house?
ReplyDeleteBoth quilts are great and made even more so knowing the love and history behind them. I have some handmade quilts I found at VV. I think it is so sad not everyone treasures handmade items as you do yours. I love your vintage bed and great wallpaper!
ReplyDeleteThe wallpaper is vintage - we think it is probably from the 1930s or 40s, we're not sure. The house was built in 1920.
ReplyDeleteFunny thing about our wallpaper: Our friend's parents live across the harbour in Halifax and have the same stuff in their dining room. Theirs is in much better shape than ours. Ours is marked and peeling in a couple of places.
When we finally decide to redecorate our room, I hope to find similar paper for just the wall behind our bed. I've grown quite fond of the ferns.
The quilts are very nice and I know - very special. I love looking at the stitches of old quilts and picturing the hands that made them.
ReplyDelete