Q is for... Quilts

Back when I started doing this Blogging through the Alphabet theme, I thought that Q might be one of the letters to present a challenge.  I was right.  I had to think on it for awhile, because I didn't want to do something that seemed like it was using someone else's ideas.  I thought about doing a list of funny "Quotes" from my kids, but it turned out someone else used that idea before I got it done.  Quality? Questions? Quiet?  (Quiet - haha that's a good one!) Quirks? Quarrels?  Hmmm...

Well, I finally settled on Quilts.  Not because I'm a quilter.  My skills are very limited.  I've learned a little quilting and have done some myself, but you won't see any of my handiwork here today.  I have a quilt that I've been working on (or not working on, at least recently!) for an embarrassingly long time, and if I ever finish it, I will definitely share pictures because that will be a huge accomplishment.  I am very interested in quilts though - fascinated would be more accurate - and am very blessed to have loved ones who are quilters.  

The above picture is three of them (Mom - looking at the camera, Aunt Alice in blue, and Aunt Linda in red) working on a project at my Mom's.

My Grandma's home was full of quilts, and although they were ultimately practical, they were also extremely well made and beautiful. My Aunt and my Mom are also quilters.  My Mom mostly does decorative wall-hanging quilts.  Some of Mom's handiwork at her house:

  My Aunt Alice does bedspreads and wall-hangings, and Aunt Linda often helps with those projects.  This is a wall-hanging they designed and made for my living room, and if I remember correctly, this was the first design they came up with on their own. 

This was kind of a neat follow-up, because when I got married, their wedding gift to us was this beautiful log cabin quilt.  For many years we did use it as a bedspread, but now it is hanging up on my bedroom wall to protect it from wear and tear.

My aunts had also found a fair sized stash of flour sacks when they cleaned up my Grandma's things, and the happy result was flour sack quilts!  I have a couple of them.

When I was on a missions trip to Honduras, one of my projects there was to work with a couple other ladies putting together a "friendship quilt" using quilt blocks that the VBS students had decorated with fabric paints.

A couple of years ago when my parents were here visiting, my Mom volunteered to teach Kennady some sewing.  They went well above and beyond the suggestions in the HomeEc book we had, and Kennady was so interested in quilting that she designed and created this wallhanging on her own, with Gramma to advise.

I love the nostalgia and beauty of quilts, and the connections to my family and experiences that the quilts prompt me to remember.  Someday maybe I'll have more time and inclination to continue to work on my own quilting projects.  In the meantime, I'll admire and enjoy the works of art I already have, and encourage Kennady whenever she wants to work on another project.

Blogging through the Alphabet is a weekly link-up hosted by "Ben and Me". Please visit to join in and to see what thoughts this week's letter has prompted for other bloggers.