Thursday, February 22, 2018

Memories - My Grandmother's Mystery Quilt

This beautiful vintage quilt belonged to my Grandma Van Nattan. I'm sorry to say that we do not know who made it or what its story is - as with many handmade things that were passed down to us from her. It may have been made by my great-grandmother (or some other relative from that era) because these fabrics would have all been from before she died. It is highly unlikely that my grandma herself made it as I never knew her to sew projects of this type. It also could have been given to my grandparents as a gift from one of their supporting churches when they first went to be missionaries in Africa. The timing would have been right for that as well since a lot of scraps of this vintage would have been available at the time. It might have been a wedding gift, but I'm going to say I think some of the fabrics *may* be too recent for that.

I also don't know what the pattern is. I would describe it as a cross between the "Dresden plate" and a "card tricks" block. Maybe a reader can tell us.

Just a word of advice: Be sure your family knows the stories behind heirlooms or other items of particular interest that you will leave behind when your time comes to go. We have a lot of heirlooms, especially from my dad's side of the family, of which we know little other than that they were owned by my grandparents for some reason. If it's important enough to hold on to and pass on, it's important enough to leave the story with it. If you have too much stuff to tell all the stories or write them down for the family, then you may have too many things to leave. Just sayin'... :-)







4 comments:

  1. What a treasure. Such peaceful pretty colours.

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    1. It is beautiful! My brother and his wife inherited it and I hope they put it to good use. :-)

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  2. Such a beautiful quilt, and so nice to know a bit about it. Thanks for the words of wisdom to make a record of items so that their stories can be shared with others!

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    1. You're welcome. :-) It sometimes makes me feel kind of sad to look at some of the really interesting things we have from my grandparents and not know what the story is behind them!

      This quilt is beautiful. I find the vintage fabrics so interesting to look at.

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