My Family Heirloom

I've been saving this post for a rainy day (i.e when I have nothing else to write about). I made this patchwork quilt a lot of years ago, and until recently it has been hidden in a chest. But finally my kids have passed the years when I have to worry about little accidents, so I thought it was time for it to come out of hiding.

I started making it when I was about 13 years old, and it took the good part of the next 8 years. Part of the reason it took so long was I kept running out of material. The original plan was, I think, to have no repeated fabrics, but if you look closely I do have two or three diamonds of some fabrics. I guess you would call most of the fabrics vintage, like me.

The section I like best is the middle. Partly it is because some of the stitching there is not very good. I got better as the years passed. A lot of the fabrics were from my mum's material bits and bobs box. 

It makes me realize how much sewing my mum did. I can remember most of the outfits that the fabrics came from, and it makes me nostalgic. Can you see the teddybear fabric from my sister's and my aprons? The purple flowers were from a little dress I made at school. Little turquoise flowers on white seersucker was a nightdress. I could go on for hours .... 

I have just remembered that my mum used to make us pretend bills, whenever she had finished a make. We would find the finished item of clothing on our bed, wrapped, and either with a bill from Anna's Dress Shop, or Nancy's Knitting Shop. She did this for years. I think she was trying to make a point ...

So there it is, my family heirloom. Every stitch was done by hand, even attaching the backing and edge ribbon. I slightly regretted using such a simple design, and have a hankering to make another quilt one day, perhaps with a more complicated pattern, and a colour theme. But this quilt was a labour of love for my children, and I'm sure I will not make anything handsewn on this scale again.