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Last evening I read an account of a quilter, Aunt Jane's Album, written by Eliza Calvert Hall. The article was reproduced from The Cosmopolitan magazine published in February of 1900.

There had been two issues that struck me as I read this post. First was its length. The article’s densely packed text spanned ten pages. I can think of no contemporary women’s magazine that would dare publish this kind of a lengthy post - not with our abbreviated focus spans and desire for fast-fire information. The second factor the post brought to thoughts was how the procedure of generating a quilt becomes such a basic component of our lives.

The lady, “Aunt Jane”, explained how over the years, whilst other ladies recorded their thoughts in diaries and journals, she had recounted her life through her quilts. She picked up a hand pieced quilt to show to her niece, lovingly stroked the faded calicoes and described how each scrap of material had once belonged to one of her children... snippets and scraps that had come from little dresses, “waists” and aprons. Now the children had been either grown, married and residing far away... or dead.

As she traced the calico and gingham patterns, she marveled how the fabrics had in many cases outlasted its wearer. More than the years she would pull out her sizable collection of quilts, and be transported to an earlier time when her children had been young, and her household was filled with tiny voices, laughter and bouncing curls. Rather than bemoan her losses, she let the quilts revive her happy memories.

We quilters are resilient.

http://www.thriftyquilting.com/ is a gift. It unites us to our past and a long history of strong ladies (and males) who quilted out of necessity, but imbued every quilt with adore and memories of family members, hearth and house.

The article I recounted was written more than a century ago. During that time , technology has altered each facet of our lives. Today, most of us don’t sew our own clothes, so quilts are no longer made from bit and pieces of fabric leftover from homemade clothes. And usually we don’t have to sew quilts just to keep our households warm. Now, we sew as a pastime.

Quilting has become an expression of art, and a way to come together as a neighborhood of friends with shared interests. And, yes, our stunning creations also serve a purpose. They are offered as wedding presents, as baby presents and to new graduates. They serve to celebrate the important events in life. But just as in the case of Aunt Jane, many of our quilts will survive lengthy past our lifetimes.

When future generations of quilt lovers run their fingers more than the surfaces of our quilts, let's hope they will take a second to think about the lives of the women who made them and sense the happiness and contentment we felt in the creation.