Nana’s quilts: A Legacy of Love

Every winter my mother and grandmother would “piece a quilt.”  Years ago my mother bought material and had my childhood clothes made by a neighbor lady. She kept the material scraps to make quilts from. Now that both my mother and my grandmother are gone, those quilts have become some of my most prized possessions. I look at the material from my dresses and the memories warm my heart.

There’s something about wrapping up in a quilt when it’s cold outdoors that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside: especially when the quilt was made by someone you love. In fact, it’s the next best thing to a hug. These aren’t just quilts, they are a representation of how much my mother and grandmother loved me.

Over the years I’ve collected other quilts because I admire the craftsmanship that goes into making one.  While I don’t love the newer ones as much as I do the ones that mom and grandma made, I still appreciate them.

I wish I had the patience and talent it takes to make a quilt, but I don’t. This nana runs wide open 24/7 and doesn’t have a crafty gene in her body.  I’ve tried being artistic but it doesn’t come easily for me. Before our first child was born I did cross stitch a baby blanket.

There were four more babies born, but none of them got a cross stitched blanket. Wonder why? The baby I made this for will be 28 years old next month. I showed it to him and told him how lucky he was to have it. He looked at me like I was crazy. “I guess I could frame it,” he said. “What else can I do with it?”

“You are supposed to look at it every day and think about how much your mother wanted you and loved you from the moment you were conceived! You are supposed to look at each tiny stitch and remark about it’s delicacy!”

He looked at me as if I’d lost it, shook his head and said, “I’ll save it for Abby.”

Now that’s a good idea. Maybe someday my granddaughter will appreciate how much her nana loved her daddy.

I have tried my hand at other crafts as well. My biggest undertaking and by far the most difficult project I’ve ever tackled was making a stained class piece. My oldest son and I took the class together and I have a deep seated appreciation of the work that goes into making even a small piece of stained glass.

Here’s my stained glass piece (my one and only….there will be no more!)

We were building our house at the time I was making this and I asked our builder if he would help me find a place to put it in our house where we could all enjoy it.

We placed the stained glass piece on the screened in porch that over looks our back yard.

Today I’m giving thanks for the wonderful legacy of love my mother and grandmother left me.  I may just go get a quilt, wrap up in it right now and rock on my back porch. Thank you Lord for loving moms and nanas! They are truly one of your greatest blessings!