Quilting

from an unidentified source:

Quilting satisfies me. Old quilts speak to me of what "women's' work" has ever been--providing warmth and comfort, while expressing sometimes otherwise unnoticed depths of creativity and love of beauty in everyday things. Like architecture, quilts are art that surrounds us and enriches our families lives and our culture as a whole. I love the feel and smell of fabric. I love the vast choices of color and design. I love the feeling of a sharp blade slicing cleanly through cloth and the soothing rhythm of hand sewing. I love the company of women sewing and visiting and the solitude of listening to music while I quilt alone.

AUNT JANE OF KENTUCKY by Eliza Calvert Hall:

"I've been a hard worker all my life, but 'most all my work has been the kind that 'perishes with the usin',' as the Bible says. That's the discouragin' thing about a woman's work. If a woman was to see all the dishes that she had to wash before she died piled up before her in one pile, she'd lie down and die right then and there. I've always had the name o' bein' a good housekeeper, but when I'm dead and gone there ain't anybody goin' to think o' the floors I've swept, and the tables I've scrubbed, and the old clothes I've patched, and the stockin's I've darned, but when one of my grandchildren or great-grandchildren sees one o' these quilts, they'll think about Aunt Jane, and, wherever I am then, I'll know I ain't forgotten."

"Patchwork? An, no! It was memory, imagination, history, biography, joy, sorrow, philosophy, religion, romance, realism, life, love & death, and overall, like a halo, the love of the artist for his work and the souls longing for earthly mortality."

Our Family Crazy Quilts

Dreaming a quilt:

Vision unfolds.

Color and pattern

assemble,

change form,

then settle down; ready to become real.

Fabric bought

here and there.

Shades and hues

are elusive,

having dwelled only in thought.

Purchases placed

in a box beside

templates designed

late last night.

Inspiration surfaces in that somnolent state.

Supplies gathered;

plans sketched on

an old yellow pad.

I close the lid

and slip the container beneath the bed ^~

that secret place

where dreams

like this wait.

© 1998  Anne Johnson

This quilt is made of cloth and 
      thread

      to place upon your little bed.

      It's not an heirloom - just to keep,

      but to lie upon as you count sheep.

      Or perhaps the floor's the perfect place

      for a doll and teddy picnic space.

      This quilt can be anything you dream -

      from Superman's cape to the robe of a queen.

      Pretend its a raft adrift at sea,

      or just cuddle up when you watch TV.

      So use it up and wear it out-

      I promise I won't yell or pout,

      Just tell me when its days are through,

      and I'll make another, just for you.

      -- Kathy 
      Sherlock

Nothing connects us with our heritage like

holding an heirloom quilt in our hands.