A New Quilting B

At the beginning of this month, I headed down the California to visit with my dad's family- grandparents, aunts, and uncle- for about a week. That was a lot of fun! I call our family gatherings "Quilting B's" because that's what they are. (Yes, I do know that the actual term is quilting bee. Just humor me.) All four of my aunts had some kind of quilting project going on that week. Naturally, I needed to be included. So, I finished my first big quilt!!

Quilting, I've learned, is a family tradition! My grandma quilts, her mom quilted, my aunts quilt, and now I quilt! To the best of my knowledge, I am the fourth generation quilter in my family! Quilting is such a neat project that links the past with the future. Not only are quilts useful to stay warm, but they make awesome forts as shown above. This fort has a total of six quilts used to complete it! The purple one was given to me by my grandma; the quilt with the animals was also made by my grandma for my niece. The other quilts' makers are not known to me off the top of my head. A quilt expresses so much. It's made with love, tailored with a specific person in mind a lot of times.

I definitely gained several things from my dad's side of the family- quilting and reading are only two. My aunt introduced me to a book series last Christmas that I have thoroughly enjoyed. I am reading the fourth book right now. It's a series about quilts, no less! The fourth book really paints a good picture of the treasures a quilt really is. The main character finds a quilt in her attic that is supposedly made by her great-grandmother. (I don't know if it actually is or not yet.) She is searching her family history to learn about the quilt. I find it fascinating!

Like the main character, I have been given a quilt that belonged to my great-grandmother. The quilt was made in 1940 as a birthday present for her. One neat thing about this quilt is all the names that have been embroidered on the blocks. To think that I have an actual piece of history right there! It's priceless to me to have that quilt. I certainly have a sparked interest in my family's history.

Now, if I could only find my next quilting project...