Monday, September 16, 2013

Memory Quilts and the Memories in a Quilt


Do you love to quilt AND love to read?  I invite you to join the free, online Quilters' Book Club.  Each month, we read a book, discuss it through comments on my blog posts, and then make a quilt block to represent that book.

To join, become a follower of my blog so you won't miss any blog post.  You can also sign up for my posts to be delivered right to you via email.  It is never too late to join and begin reading and sewing along with us.       

Our book to read and discuss during September is The Goodbye Quilt by Susan Wiggs.  In the book, mother Linda creates a memory quilt for her daughter Molly to take to college.  The quilt is made of material from Molly's former clothes.  My mother made a similar quilt for each of her three daughters.  Mine is shown above.


If you'd like to create a quilt block to represent the memories sewn into Molly's quilt, click on the following names to check out their patterns:

Memory Quilt Block

Memory Block Quilt Block

Memory Chain Quilt Block

My Favorite Quilt Quilt Block

Do you feel it's important to mark life's milestones with something concrete?  How do you do it in your family?  Inquiring minds want to know!  Answer in the comment section below.  If you are reading via email, you must first click on the blog title to be able to comment and read the comments of others.  

By commenting, you are entering you name in a give-away for a copy of The Double Wedding Ring by Clare O'Donohue, courtesy of Plume Books.  There will be two lucky winners this month!

You might also enjoy reading my previous blog post here

10 comments:

  1. I love memory quilts and t-shirt quilts. I think they are the most treasured quilts.

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  2. It seems the first thing I think to do now is make a quilt for a person...I think I do have the gift of encouragement and now it shows up in quilt making...I have very few of the quilts I have made; although now I am doing them to show my HOPE to have students in my classes of what some quilts look like compelted and quilted! :)

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  3. I like pictures. Other than that..not so sure I like to.

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  4. The very first picture in my quilt diary is a cathedral window quilt I made to save pieces of fabric from my great grandmother's quilt and scraps from the kids clothing, many of which were my own clothes re-purposed. My second daughter is in possession of that quilt now. I am trying to find the best pattern for this quilt block that I can include a scrap of fabric used in each quilt i have made for a child or grandchild.
    Our family is very good at writing memoirs and lots of stuff keeps popping up on our family websites.

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  5. I try to mark special occasions by making the grandkids a memory book consisting of pictures and little things like ticket stubs.

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    1. Susan, reading this I am reminded of a time when Grandaddy and Grandma came to visit when I was 8. Grandma had some of those little rectangle fabric samples and she sat down and taught me how to sew them into a patchwork. I made a tiny pillow, probably 2" x 4". I don't have the little pillow anymore, but I do have a very special memory.

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  6. OOPS! I apologize for my comment ending up as a reply to Sandra.

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  7. Mostly I try to pick up some kind of memento that I can look at in the future to remind me of the trip and/or who I traveled with.

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  8. The whole reason I started quilting - was because of a memory quilt my daughter made me.... My Dad had passed away - and for father's day she gave me a lap quilt she made out of his old shirts with the most beautiful note - about how everytime I picked it up to use it - it would be like getting a hug from my dad ......

    Memory quilts are very special gifts - filled with memories

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  9. I think it is important to mark milestones with something concrete. Our family does this with pictures but I loved the way the quilt in the book pulled so many special moments into one piece.

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