The Story of Granna's
Quilt
by Judy Ash
As I picked up my needle,
threaded with white thread, and reached for the little cloth
tag that had come in the mail, I thought of her again, as I
do so often. Beside me lay the yellow and white quilt that had
belonged to my grandmother and now resides with me. I must sew
this tag onto the back of her quilt so the story and history
will never be forgotten.
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The year was 1928 and the quilt
was made by the Trinity Methodist Ladies Bible Class in
Lafayette, Indiana. Small rectangles of white cloth were
sold to raise money for the class's charitable activities,
and then the patches were sewn together in rows and embroidered
with the names of church members.
Many autograph quilts are made
today but this one is unique in that only one hand wrote
those hundreds of names and it appears as though that
same hand did all the embroidery.
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How my grandmother became
the owner of this quilt, I do not know. Perhaps as a gift for
years of service, given by her or by her husband, a lay minister,
professor, and community leader. However the quilt came into
her possession, she treasured it. I lived with my grandmother
for several years and the yellow and white quilt was always
either on her bed or folded across her dressing table chair.
Granna, as we called her,
was raised in northern Michigan. She attended what was called
a Normal School after high school and became a teacher. I loved
her stories of the many foreign children, whose parents spoke
little English, and how they managed to communicate. Many an
evening, without the now always present television, my brother
and I would listen to her stories about the cold winters and
her growing up years.
After her marriage she moved
to Indiana where my grandfather was a lay minister and a professor
at Purdue University. More stories of the small churches he
preached at, Sunday dinners with parishioners, calling on the
sick and infirm. They were a team. She was widowed early but
went on in those years to become a strong and talented woman
in her own right. I have beautiful dishes she hand painted and
poetry and verse she wrote. She served her community and specifically
her church in many ways.
As she grew older and moved
from independence to living with her daughter, the quilt moved
with her. I can still see her sitting on the edge of her bed
in her later years, always in a print house dress with an apron
tied around her waist. Those aprons had to have a pocket to
hold the tissues she carried. As I look at the quilt now, the
embroidery on that side of the quilt is almost worn away.
Oh I will never forget
this quilt and all that it means to me but someday, far in the
future, some great great granddaughter may find the quilt among
her possessions and wonder how it came to be. That little white
tag will supply all the answers to her questions and her story
will live on.
To learn more about having your quilts registered with the Illinois
Quilt Research Project, contact Judy Ash (jash@pdnt.com)
or Karen Moon (kjmoon@pdnt.com)
