What do you call a hand-stitched, colorful patchwork quilt?
I call it a painting.
I’ve never thought of my ninety-eight-year-old Mom as an artist. She didn’t use canvas, brushes, oils, or paints. She painted beautiful works of art with a needle, thread, and cloth strips. Of her many quilts, one of my favorites is a beautiful red, white, and green wedding bouquet pattern.
She called the painting ‘The Wedding Bouquet.’
Painting or stitching such works of art takes skill, patience, and dedication.
Oh! A love for the craft or art is also a must.
Mom was a true artist. She quilted with the best of them during her heyday in Greensboro, Alabama. She participated in quilting circles or groups that met at each other’s homes to work on quilts.
Several of Mom’s quilted paintings are on beds in my home. The thousands of stitches are a testament to her love and devotion for me, my siblings, other relatives, and friends who have her quilts.
Many of the quilts record milestones or special time periods for me and my siblings. My twelfth-grade prom dress dances in one or more quilts—bumping and doing the hustle from start to finish. The quilts are stitched memories of times past. The quilts remind us of the way we were.
Mom’s skill at repurposing the old to make something new was economical and artful. Snip, snip, and an old dress, shirt, or pants became a part of our heritage to pass on to the next generation. Recycling old, outgrown clothes into quilts for the family was a common practice in the South.
The quilts were the fabric of our lives.
Mom made quilting patterns she learned from her mom. These patterns had names: The Double Wedding Ring, The Fish Tale, The Basket, The Star, The Ten Million, The Bridal Bouquet, and others.
Hand quilting is a part of the historical South but may become a lost art form if the current and future generations fail to continue the art.
I made two quilt tops during my younger days, which were used as bedspreads.
Quilting in America dates back to the 1800s as a common-sense method of providing warmth and protection during wintry weather. Many communities had quilting circles. The women would meet at each other’s houses and quilt for hours. There was no such thing as a store-bought quilt in our house, and many others.
Unlike patchwork quilts, whole cloth quilts featured uncut pieces of the same fabric for the entire quilt top. Quilts have three layers: quilt top, filler, and backing. The three layers of homemade quilts are stitched together by hand.
Like many quilters, Mom sewed pieces together to form blocks. These blocks were sewn together to become quilt tops. Oftentimes, stitched borders lengthen and widen the quilt tops to the required bed size.
A homemade quilt is more than pieces of cloth and filler sewn together with thread—it’s art.
Mom loved her craft in those days. Mom is gone now, but her quilts continue to provide comfort and memories of her love for her family.
I hope you are happy and well.