Airing the Quilts

The day was sunny and clear – perfect for a big thick quilt to dry on the lawn.  So I gathered some old ones that had been waiting for an outing and draped them on the fence to air.

These are specimens from Jim’s family.  Two grandmothers made quilts in styles distinctive enough that he and his sister can specify the household from which they came.  But they don’t always know which generation the maker was from.

Most are tattered and need repair before they can be washed.  But what treasures they are, and what stories they tell.

One grandmother’s quilts are heavier than the other’s. Granny used a thinner cotton batting than Grandmama did.  They may have processed both at home, or one used ginned cotton while the other used some straight from the fields.

Some of the fabrics are delicious and vibrant colors, others have faded to be unrecognizable, still others have disintegrated completely.

I personally love the backs of these old quilts, too.  Homespun cotton on every one – and, interestingly, in many cases that fabric has NOT disintegrated. 

I am in the process of repairing these pieces of history so that they can travel on through the generations.  Sometimes that means more labor intensive work than others, but it’s a joy to join these women’s work with my own stitches.

I am adding a label to each quilt that tells what we know of their history and maker – but the fabrics and stitches tell a story, too.  The rust circles on the back of this one tells me that this quilt lay under a mattress at sometime, against bare bedsprings.

And, the one quilt that was ready to wash is now drying between two layers of cotton sheets on the grass – the bottom sheet to protect it from grass stains, the top sheet to protect it from birds flying over.