Family Quilts

It is cold and drizzly today. Perfect weather for some Beef Stew with Guinness (in the crock pot since this morning) and curling up under a quilt. I have some beautiful quilts that have been made with love by my family. Which, if you have been reading my last few posts has been the theme of my week as i start drawing up the family tree.

That is Great Grandma Smith (nee "Tommie" Rachel Anna Purdy) in a photo taken in the early 60's by my mom. When I shared it on Facebook with some of my Smith cousins (remember there are LOTS of them), three of them had the same first thought I did, "I wonder who has that quilt?"

Lone Star pattern

Here are two more she made for my mom:

Drunkard's Path pattern

Grandma's Flower Garden pattern

This one has been well used and needs some mending.
Someday, when I have nothing better to do, I'll have to get to this.

Her oldest daughter Bonnie was also a pretty talented quilter. She made these two for me when I was born. They look beautiful all put together, but if you look closely at some of the fabrics it is proof of one of the rules of quilting I read somewhere: use a few ugly fabrics to make it more interesting and ultimately more pleasing to the eye.

I wonder if Grandfather Carl thought "I want to marry a girl just like the one that married dear old dad"? Because my Grandmother Ruth was every bit as talented of a seastress as her mother-in-law. Here's the top piece of a quilt she made for me that I still haven't gotten around to quilting. Mostly because it doesn't go with anything in my house so it got shoved to the back of the closet and I keep forgetting it.

Applique flowers.

I have one quilt from my dad's side of the family. Not sure who made it, but the cool thing about it is, some of the white blocks have bled through from the back side and you can see that it was made with cut up Holly Sugar bags. Waste not want not.

Double Wedding Band pattern

I did not inherit much of this talent for quilting. Here's my latest attempt. I cut up all of my sons cute baby clothes. I loathe sewing with knit, none of the seems line up, it is a quilting disaster. But it is warm and full of wonderful memories. So, I hope someday he will appreciate it.