Are you a quilter? No, but my grandmother was. She had one of those frames that dropped from the ceiling. I remember playing under the quilt while she and friends would sit around the frame and stitch.
My question of 'Are you a quilter?' to folks who visit my shop is often answered with the 'Grandmother's Quilt Frame' story. Funny thing is...the stories almost always are shared by the men who patiently wait while their wives browse and shop. I bet their grandmothers are smiling in heaven! I know I smile when my grandchildren reminisce about times spent with me in my sewing room or talk about their favorite quilt.
I've come to realize that every quilt has a story whether it was made yesterday or many yesterdays ago. Stories of yesterday's quilts may not have a history story to tell yet, but still their maker made choices in fabrics, design, size and more often than not...a specific reason for creating a quilt. Many yesterdays ago quilts easily have a story to tell without first hand knowledge, a label or a grandchild's memory.
Take for instance, the quilt pinned on line. Forgive the pun that brings yesterdays old school Show and Tell in to todays technology. I couldn't resist, and besides, I'm thinking the 'Old School Clothespin On Line' was the inspiration for the 'Online Pin'terst'...wish I had thought of it!
This is the 'Lajitas Quilt Shop' where I purchased the quilt top 'Pinned OnLine'. Although it was many yesterdays ago, I remember it well, and the story told by the quilt shop proprietor.
Lajitas, Texas, is an unlikely place for a quilt shop with it's desert location on the border of Texas and Mexico. Just across the border on the other side of the Rio Grande lies a small village accessed only by crossing the river...usually in an aluminum boat rigorously paddled...depending on whether the Rio Grande is roaring or slow running.
I digress...the quilt top story...armed with donated treadle sewing machines, fabric, scissors and basic sewing supplies a group of Texas women crossed the Rio Grande to teach the village girls and women the art of quilting. Yes, you got it...no electricity...therefore, the treadle machines. The resulting quilt tops were a boon to the economy for the village and a binding tie..no quilt pun intended...between women of two close but separate countries.
'It Takes A Village'
Quilted and Pinned
by
CollectInTexas Gal
