Bloggers Quilt Festival
Hi all! Thanks to Loreen Leedy, and the post on her blog, I found out about the Blogger’s Quilt Festival.
Since I, too, won’t be in Chicago for Quilt Festival Spring Edition, I decided I’d love to play too. The hard part, though, is deciding which quilt. See, you are supposed to post your favorite quilt, then blog about it. Is that the most recent quilt (Little Brown Bird, a corner seen here) ? The one of which I’m most proud (probably Bijagos Warrior) ? The one that features my kid(s) (two kids/rooms combined into one composite quilt)? The mystery quilt that is the favorite of the entire family for snuggling under (bright colors, fleece backing and super cuddly even tho the fleece is now old and pilled)? The Queen sized Mariner’s Compass, the second quilt I began but, thanks to living in Africa where it was too hot to sit under the quilt when I started on it, finished ten years later on cool San Juan Island, Wash.? The answer:
Bedtime, of course, because it is my kids. Made for the I Remember Mama exhibit, it was juried in to the third year of the exhibit (the last one on the list of accepted quilts…eeek? did I just barely make it in?). Karey Bresenhan conceived of the 3-year exhibit as a way to honor her mother, Jewel Patterson, who died several months before the first exhibit. (Because of the short-notice, there wasn’t enough time to make quilts specifically for the exhibit, so that year you could enter quilts made at any time related to the theme…the “kimono” quilt that I made for my mom’s 80th Birthday was in that first year.) There was a book, too, so my quilts are in that.
To make this quilt, I dragooned hubby into taking pictures of me sitting in bed reading to each of our kids, one of my favorite pastimes. In the end, I decided on a composite picture. The face on the boy is Joshua’s (my oldest), but the child pictured is aged between what my two boys were at the time of the photos. The room is Eli’s (our youngest), and the quilt on the bed is made from leftover blocks from his “big boy bed quilt.”
The bedstead in that room is one of two my mom bought for my grandparents, and which I remember in their bedroom. After they died, the maple bedroom suite went to mom and dad, and daddy used it in his room. When daddy died, Mom sent it to me, and now the fourth generation, in the shape of Eli, is using it.
My favorite part of the quilt, though, may be the pajamas. Both boys had the light blue/navy blue jammies from Hanna Anderson. As usual for them (and alas this continues to this day), they trashed them. Ran outside in them. Played in them. Skidded on rough stuff in them. Ripped out the knees. Snagged holes in the legs and elbows. Ahem. Clearly I am more into the boys having fun than discipline about what they wear where. Ahem. So I took the tatters and rags and made the pajamas on the quilt from the pajamas from real life. And I can still stroke the cloth and remember when they were little (not so long ago). Some day, I hope I’ll show the quilt to their (I hope they have) kids and say hey, that was your daddy/uncle and their rooms when they were your age…..
April 19th, 2009 at 9:05 pm
Beautiful and meaningful quilt. Thanks for sharing.
April 20th, 2009 at 8:36 am
What a treasure! I love the Jammies. I love the quilt made from his quilt. What a lovely idea.
April 20th, 2009 at 9:08 am
Sarah Ann, what an amazing quilt! So much detail. I love your story about your boys. They certainly can use things up, can’t they?? Thanks so much for sharing about your quilt.
April 20th, 2009 at 9:34 am
What a wonderful quilt full of memories. I can see why it is a favorite. Thanks! Debbie
April 20th, 2009 at 11:44 am
Very pretty!
April 20th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
Absolutely Awesome! This makes my heart leap, what a wonderful moment to put into art!
April 20th, 2009 at 10:27 pm
What a great quilt. How fun.
April 20th, 2009 at 11:36 pm
This quilt speaks………Wonderful!
Enjoy this most fabulous festival
April 22nd, 2009 at 12:56 pm
How coincidental. I, too, posted a photo of a quilt of me and my son. It was one of my 2004 Journal Quilts.
April 22nd, 2009 at 8:17 pm
This is truly a great quilt with plenty of warm memories. Great job!!!!!
April 22nd, 2009 at 8:18 pm
Sarah, your bedtime quilt brought back many wonderful memories of reading to my boys at bedtime. It was my favorite time of the day. I was able to do it until they were 13 and 14.
I am inspired to make a story quilt of my own on this topic. Thanks.
Candy
April 22nd, 2009 at 10:34 pm
The quilt is a wonderful. Your description of the design process and the way it is a composite of things important in your life even though it seems to be a single snapshot is amazing.
April 23rd, 2009 at 12:30 am
Precious memories! I love all the special details – thanks for sharing 🙂
April 23rd, 2009 at 4:11 pm
What you beautiful quilt. Your attention to detail is incredible. Stunning!
April 23rd, 2009 at 10:14 pm
What an awesome quilt!
April 25th, 2009 at 1:30 am
What a lovely quilt. You did a great job. Thanks for sharing.
SewCalGal
http://www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com