My grandparents lived on a beautiful farm similar to the one pictured here. It was an idyllic place that I visited every summer of my childhood. They had all kinds of animals. Chickens, goats, milk cows, horses, dogs, rabbits, pigs and cats to name a few. It was a childhood dream. My grandfather, Merl, would milk the cows and my Uncle Gene would pick up the milk to take to the processing place. My grandmother Opal had a garden, the original organic food; and my great grandmother Erma lived in a tiny Airstream trailer right on the property next to the well.

Opal, taught me to sew on her old Singer treadle machine. I learned to sew clothes for myself, make repairs and sometimes even create a purse or a scarf. By that time in her life she focused mainly on crochet and needlepoint rather than on quilt making. She was a prolific quilter though and came by it quite naturally from her mother and grandmother. I envision a group of them sitting around a big hoop….sewing, laughing and telling stories into the winter.

Think about it…

One Who Sleeps Under a Quilt is Comforted by Love.

Quilting is art. No doubt about it. Whatever you create, even if you follow a pattern or receive other instructions, what you sew with fabrics, thread, stitches and concentration is uniquely yours. Quilting is good for you. It decreases your stress levels and gives you a feeling of a sense of accomplishment and being productive. It also increases the reward chemicals in our brains. Win-win. And Quilters are good people as a whole. Think about it. Every quilter has already wrapped their family and friends with quilts or other fabric gifts then often turns to donate her/his wares to service organizations and strangers. These things, these quilts; are a gift from the heart.