On deck: Grandma’s Quilt

Finally got one of Great Grandma Massingill’s quilt tops from my mom. She’s been holding onto three of them since her grandmother passed away in the mid-80s. For nearly thirty years they’ve just been waiting for someone to finish making them into quilts. Well, the time has come.

I was only 15 when my great grandma died and we didn’t have an in-person relationship, with her in Arizona and our family in Oregon, but we were pen pals for several years before she passed. I remember her writing about her life, her grandchildren, great-grandchildren and even a few great-greats.

She hand-stitched all the quilts she made and this one is clearly a scraptastic variation of the fan block. It’s lovely in it’s array of fabrics and each section seems to have its own variety. Except for one fabric that runs throughout the entirety of the quilt top: blue gingham.

See? Now the thing that really grabs my attention about this is that this color gingham has been used in my own clothing. Several times. This is the only pic I can find right now–me, my little sis and my mom all in blue gingham dresses she’d made for us.

Isn’t it interesting how these things come around? I don’t know, maybe it is silly but it all brings me back to my great grandma and how she has passed the craft of sewing down for generations. I’m happy to carry the torch and I think I might look for some gingham this weekend, just because.