Grandmother’s Garden Postage Stamp Quilt

Today is my birthday and it’s very cold outside! Can you believe it? We are going to have snow for the next two days..in South Texas! I’ll have to take photos for sure. It will look odd to have snow on our tropical plants around the pond. Tee-hee! (I covered many of my flowering bushes with sheets. Sure don’t want to lose any!) We had my favorite dinner last night, homemade cookies, and champagne. We also watched a movie together as a family. And bless his soul, my son Matthew, a Marine and a Pashtu translator,  called to wish me a Happy Birthday from Afghanistan. What more could a mother ask for?

I couldn’t think of a better way to spend some spare time than to quilt on my grandmother’s mother’s quilt…that makes it ‘great-grandmother’ I believe. I’ve only shown one photo and it was so far away that no one could get a close look at it. I’m determined to finish it this year along with two other major sewing projects…appliquéd antique quilt blocks of my friend, Angela’s, grandmother, and couch cushion covers for my mom. Since today was my birthday and it is so so chilly, I chose to quilt. It’s a lovely way to stay warm  while pursuing my favorite hobby. I’m about half way through hand-quilting it.

If I could work on it more regularly, I’m sure I could get it done in a couple of months but I have to work to squeeze out the extra time to work on it. I love quilting though..because it gives me a chance to sit quietly and just reflect. Time seems to slow down when I work…

If you have never heard of postage stamp quilts, they were supposed to be quilts made with pieces about the size of a stamp.  During the war, women would work on these extremely intricate quilts to help pass the time. Some people called them ‘worry’ quilts. It was hard to worry about your men off on the war front while trying to focus on meticulously hand piecing such tiny pieces!  

Was my great grandmother worried about something? I don’t know..but she took the traditional postage stamp quilt to a new level. Each postage stamp is made of six tiny triangles to make the little hexagon shaped pieces. I’m afraid I would just lose my mind piecing this thing! The reason it’s called Grandmother’s Garden is that the six hexagons with one in the middle make you think of a flower. By attaching all of the flowers..you get a ‘flower garden’. :o)

With such tiny tiny pieces, it’s no wonder that the quilt came out somewhat crooked. If you know anything about quilting you know that even 1/32 of an inch off could affect such small pieces. So it’s definitely not straight. The top is about the size of the flat surface of a twin size bed.  The fabric is so old and delicate, that I hand appliquéd the edges of the blocks to muslin rather than try to sew them to anything.

When finished, this masterpiece quilt will not be straight..but it will be hand-quilted..and by family..which is what my Aunt Joan really wanted. I guess I’m the only quilter left in our family. (Though I thought my sister may have taken up quilting at some time.)  I found this treasure while packing up my Grandma Wood’s home after her hospital stay. She went to stay with my Aunt after a spell with her heart and I closed up her home.

I was awed when I pulled out this treasure!  It’s quite an honor to be quilting a quilt pieced or sewn together by my grandmothers.  It’s wonderful to think that yet another generation of the Wood Family..will be quilting. :o) What about you? Do you own a quilt from a Grandmother? Have you ever thought about taking up the lovely art of quilting?  If you are working on something this week, I’d love to hear about it!

I’m linking this to the Clip Cafe’s WIP linky party. Drop by to see more lovely projects or you can even link your own WIP at her blog. Happy Sewing!  And Linking to Raising Homemakers  Wednesday Link Party.

PS. Don’t forget to enter my One World, One Heart Giveaway. Click here to leave a comment on the post to enter.