Family Quilts

March is Women's History Month and my cousin, Sara Campbell (Remembering Those Who Came Before Us) challenged me to post 31 mini blogs about our female ancestors. Lisa Alzo at The Accidental Genealogist has compiled some prompts to make blogging about female ancestors a little easier.


March 6 — Describe an heirloom you may have inherited from a female ancestor (wedding ring or other jewelry, china, clothing, etc.) If you don’t have any, then write about a specific object you remember from your mother or grandmother, or aunt (a scarf, a hat, cooking utensil, furniture, etc.)

Dutch Doll Quilt made by Gladys

When my grandma Gladys died in 1984, she left a legacy of quilts. My mama received  a few of them which she put back for her grandchildren. As the children became adults, married, had children of their own, she gave them one of her mother's handmade quilts. The picture shows Grandma's Dutch Doll quilt which my older daughter--her great-granddaughter--now has; hopefully to be passed down to her children.

When I was a child, Grandma often had a quilt in a frame in the winter when cold weather kept her out of the garden. In warmer weather she preferred to be outside, wearing a bonnet not unlike the dolls in the quilt, and tending to her beloved dahlias and gladiolas. 

Library of Congress digital collection. No known restrictions.

The quilt frame was made up of four long, flat boards held together at the corners. The unfinished quilt was put into the frame so she and anyone who wanted to help, could add the quilting stitches from the outside edge in. As she worked, the finished parts of the quilt would be rolled up, putting the unfinished sections in reach. This process was repeated until the quilting was finished. Grandma would then take the quilt out of the frame and add binding to the edge. Like the frame in the picture, Grandma's hung from the ceiling on strips of cloth, either old sheets or perhaps pieces leftover from muslin she used for backing. When she wasn't working on the current project, she would wind the strips around the ends of the boards to raise the quilt up to the ceiling and out of the way.  

My grandmother has been gone for more than 30 years, but her quilts keep her memory alive. My children never met her but they know who she is by the handwork she left behind.