Quilts : or Art ?... or both

Anyone that knows me now that I LOVE anything handmade. I am overjoyed when I receive a gift and it was handmade with love. My sister is visiting from Ontario and earlier this week we went with my mom and brother to a quilt exposition in a local church. All quilts were made by local ladies. I can't say they were all ''handmade'' - some were machine stitched (but still very beautiful; I love both hand and machine stitched). What you see in the picture below was only half of the quilts on display. It litteraly takes your breath away when you first walk in.

Below - my visiting sister. This was ''one'' of my favorites.

Two pictures below are the same quilt - made by my aunt. Amazing isn't it ! her hand stitching is finer than machine stitching.


But I have to tell you a story before you view the next picture. My husband's parents died exactly one month apart - July 10 and August 10, 20 years ago. A short while after the funeral Dave and I went to clear the house because we had sold it. I guess some boxes ended up in our attic because two weeks ago when we were cleaning our attic we found and opened one of the boxes and found 6 quilt tops that Dave's mom had hand sewn. One quilt in particular, Dave gasped when he saw it, he said that he remembers helping his mom cut those tiny little squares when he was ill in bed for an entire school year with rheumatic fever. He was 7 years old ! I could'nt hold back tears, I was so touched by the expression of joy on his face. Memories are so good for your soul... don't you think ?

So I could'nt put that quilt top back in the box, even though it smelled like the attic big time. I washed it, put it to air dry outside, found a huge piece of flannel at Frenchy's and some binding and presented Dave with his quilt (see below). I am not going to stitch it, I will tie it with red wool here and there in the quilt.

We've decided that this quilt is our official picnic blanket !


And while we're on the subject of quilts, I must post ''a second time'' a picture of a very special quilt that was handmade by a very special friend and offered to me. You can read more about it here.


Have a good weekend everyone and hope you make someone happy.