DD Kimball Road: Heirloom Quilts

Monday, August 5, 2013

Heirloom Quilts

Michelle/Tami 2013

If you have been following me for sometime then you know all about the heirloom quilts that my family makes. If not here's what we are up to. When my Great Grandmother passed away, she left a couple of quilts unfinished. My grandmother and her sisters thought that it would be nice to finish these quilts and give them to their brothers as gifts as a reminder of their mother. This then sparked an idea. Why not make heirloom quilts for our whole family. We have such a large family that its really special to have women from our whole family, across our country making blocks and then they are assembled and given to each person. To me this idea was really special. Each block is embroidered with the person's name that way the receiver knows who made each and every one. We have been doing this since late 2008. It started out with my grandmother's siblings and now we are working on all of their children and eventually getting to the next generation. (me and my cousins)

However, over the last 5 years of making blocks, (I only have block photos from 2011 and up) it seems like the desire to continue this tradition has waned in some members of the family. We still have many more quilts to make and we are moving at a glacial speed. It seems like some people have lost the idea behind why we do this. I understand when life gets in the way, and coordinating 30+ women to sew together blocks is difficult. But honestly, making time to sit down for one hour to make a block, for a quilt that might mean a whole lot to a person isn't that much to ask. While looking through my grandmother's photo's of finished quilts I realized something. Two of the receiver's have passed away already from cancer....one in their 50's and one in their 40's. One of them was also a quilter. This realization comes with a heavy heart to me, as I have had 3 family member pass away from cancer in the last four years. These quilts, in my opinion, are even more important when you think about it in those terms. A way to get all of your family together to make something truly special, like a family tree in a blanket.

I just thought that I would share with you the photo's of the blocks that I have completed and a couple of the finished quilts (I hope to get more photos of the completed quilts soon) I would also like to pass along this idea to all my crafty readers. I think this is a really special idea and hope that it can become a tradition in more families!