A quilt is an heirloom. Or is it? I guess it depends on the kind of person one is. There are those who treasure and keep the quilts or other things that they have inherited from grandmas or aunts. Then there are those who collect heirlooms, purchased from various sources, and last there are the ones who create these heirlooms. I have to say I am a little bit of each. I have a few things that have been passed along to me from grandmothers and aunts. And I do care about them and enjoy looking at them, especially the things that I can remember the exact spot that they were placed in my gramma's home, or my aunt's home, or even in my mother's home.
Now, I make quilts, and other things like afghans and scarfs and drawings, and dabbled a bit with beads and paper crafts -- I rarely think of these as ever being heirlooms. I give away most of it and then it is up to the reciever to think of it in anyway they like.
Some things I make quite a few years ago. There comes a time when something that I have kept for a long time has either lost its "shine" or just plain has become not so important, no matter what it was...
I made a small quilt many years ago -- about 1975, I think. I bought a scrap pack of fabric -- Winnipeg where I lived had/has many sewing factories and with some of them you could buy a bag about the size of a zip lock large freezer bag of scraps from the factory -- I would buy an bag now and then and experiment with various blocks and rarely actually finished a quilt, but I did that time. I wanted a blanket to lay on the floor so my son would have a bit of a soft spot to land in his attempts to walk. This little quilt was not used often and then was put into a storage trunk, which over the years gradually filled with my favourite, "don't give away quilts".
I was looking through that trunk awhile back and decided that it was time to make space in it, so I pulled out 4 small quilts and decided that I will use them for whatever purpose comes up next. Well, the sit up, crawl, stand up and walk quilt was top of the pile -- it has a new life. Now don't be shocked and don't give me guff about its new life -- yes it is hand quilted and yes it was made 35 years ago, but I think I really like the new job this quilt has...
AH, yes, it has become a dog bed blanket! I would be shocked at using a quilt, especially a hand quilted one for a DOG! But its my quilt and my dog, and they go together... I could not bring myself to cutting up this quilt to either make a fat round teddy bear as is often the fate of old quilts. It just seems that after all these years this little quilt wanted to be used as it was meant to be used... If the corners get chewed and the colours fade from too many washings, this quilt I think will be happy to take up its life with a purpose again, rather than laying hidden in a box for another 35 years.
