My First Quilt

Spool Quilt: Kind & Lovely

Quilts are lovely things, don't you think? I'm told my great grandmother could sew almost anything. My grandmother inherited a bag of fabrics with some of these spool pieces already cut out when her mother died. The fabrics were from dresses she and her mother had made and worn. They were mostly polyester blends. Not something most people would think of as quilt material these days, but my grandmother was born just before the Great Depression and lived by the old adage:

Use it up, wear it out,

Make it do, or do without.

I learned how to mend clothing from her as well as how to sew my own clothing. A seamstress I'm not. I don't enjoy using a sewing machine, but I do love hand stitching. However, being able to make and remake my clothing comes in handy. And, I can use a machine when I want to.

My grandmother passed on a huge trash bag of polyester fabric along with a a brown paper spool template her mother had drawn on an old grocery bag. She showed me how to cut out the pieces and then how to sew the curves on the sewing machine. She started me out on her old treadle machine and then switched me to the electric sewing machine once I got the hang of it. 

I sewed the top together until I was out of fabric and then I used a worn-out blanket for batting and an old sheet for the backing and zig-zagged the edges before cutting close to the edge. Then, Grandmother showed me how to tie the quilt with yarn. Almost 30 years later, the quilt still has a place on the bed. I can even recognize some of the fabrics from pictures of my grandmother and great-grandmother. 

A lot of love is in that quilt and it's lovely because of that love. The colors are mostly soft pastels which are very different from the bright colors I usually choose, but they are colors my grandmother loved. It's also lovely because of the resourcefulness of it. So much is wasted today. This quilt is a symbol of the importance of using every piece. But, it's also lovely because it was used to pass on a cherished skill through several generations. 

My grandmother taught me to crochet, sew, embroider, cross-stitch, and tat. I learned creativity from her and I learned how to love through giving from her generosity. My grandmother has always been one of the loveliest ladies in my life and I am grateful for the lessons she taught me.