Featured Member Quilts: April 28 Morning

Good Morning! So many of the quilts we make or inherit have stories with them. Sometimes we feel inspired, too, to make a quilt for someone and we pick a motif that has a story we believe needs telling–maybe even one the recipient might not understand for years and years.

This morning we’ve selected three quilts, from our readers, that all tell stories. We hope they inspire you, too, to use your art for creating legacies and histories and memories and the strength of community.

from: Susan Sharratt: “This is a quilt I have just finished for a friend’s grandson who loves planes. The planes used represent the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight with a Lancaster, Spitfires, Hurricanes and Dakotas and were appliquÈd and hand embroidered. The free motion quilting in each block is meant to be puffy clouds.”

Many of us know children who love airplanes, but why do we chose the Battle of Britain for inspiration? Can it have to do with the lessons and the spirit of those days, of courage and grit and determination in the skies over England? Those planes tell amazing stories of determination and bravery in dark and trying times. Susan’s work is much more than a quilt for a child who loves planes. Thank you, Susan, for sharing it with us all.

from: Barbara Walker Balcom: “My Great Grandmother Mrs. Lou Daily pieced and quilted this and gave it to my Mother and Daddy, Mr. & Mrs. Herbert H. Walker after their marriage in 1930. It’s full sized called the Dahlia. Each flower petal is an individual piece of cloth. It is filled with real cotton that she seeded and carded herself. My Mother gave it to my oldest sister Evelyn Janet Jackson and her husband Glenn gave it to me when she died of cancer in 2000.”

We have never before seen a quilt like Barbara’s. Yes, it is a beautiful antique quilt with probably over a thousand pieces in the dahlias, but it is the story of the use of cotton that she had seeded and carded herself by hand that makes this quilt so very remarkable. We can imagine her picking the seeds out of the raw cotton and using an old carder to render it fine. We can imagine sewing together all the small pieces for the flowers, the hand quilting. Thank you, Barbara, for sharing not just the quilt with us all, but also its story.

from: Bianca Johnson: “This quilt was made for my granddaughter from her parents (her daddy passed when she was small) and her clothing. Adapted from “My Best Friends” pattern. This took months to make-even the hair is out of t-shirts.”

Bianca’s quilt is delightful and so well done. We always love to see quilts made of family members’ clothing and of a child’s own little dresses or shirts or play outfits, etc. They invite the stories of family times and outings to be told over and over. It’s so nice, too, to see differing ethnic groups and hair styles while every figure is smiling. It’s a work that will last for generations and serve as a reminder of love passed down. Thank you, Bianca, for sharing it with us.