Old quilts surround us with pieces of our past
In the past, apple-crisp nights and golden days signaled that it was time to ready the house for winter. Cotton flannel or lightweight wool blankets were no longer heavy enough to keep sleepers warm at night, so women brought out stacks of quilts, each lovingly and painstakingly pieced together out of scraps and patches of fabric, to place on the beds.
My house is warm, too warm if the children get their way, and down comforters keep us snug. But at the first hint of cool weather a kind of genetic feminine memory pulls me to bring out my quilts as well.
Working together, my grandmother and her mother pieced many of my quilts. They are basic and utilitarian, a simple patchwork of multicolored fabric squares. And by quilt standards, they aren’t very old.
When my children were babies, I would put them on the floor on a quilt, and I would lie beside them tracing my fingers over the fabric squares, finding scraps of my grandmother’s dresses and my grandfather’s flannel shirts, even bits of corduroy my grandmother cut from my grandfather’s trousers and made into pants and jumpers for me.
Later the children learned to roll over, and then crawl, on my quilts. Now, they bring them into the den to snuggle while they watch TV.
I have other quilts I’ve bought at estate sales and auctions, when a good price made them irresistible. They’re fancier than my family quilts, stitched into elaborate patterns with names like “Drunkard’s path” or “Rose of Sharon” and must have been packed away, used for special occasions only.
I have “cutters” that were thrift-store finds, a bit tattered but still impossible to resist, and I use them to line baskets or drape around the base of the Christmas tree.
One of my favorite quilts is an 1892 quilt that was made by the women of my great-great grandmother’s church in upstate New York and auctioned off to raise funds. It is made of squares of white cotton embroidered in red thread.
Each square has the names of four women and an image stitched on it. There are birds, flowers and in one square, the date.
I was told that my great-great grandmother had her heart set on getting the quilt, so when it was auctioned, my great-great grandfather outbid everyone and won it for her. It was passed down to my grandparents, and they kept it in the cedar chest.
I wasn’t even aware of its existence until I was an adult. After their deaths, it was given to me.
I never met the woman, my grandfather’s grandmother, who stitched the quilt, but through it I am tied to her as surely as the stitches bind together the layers of cotton and batting.
These days, the quilt is wrapped in a white cotton sheet and put away. My house is too full of children and pets to keep the heirloom safe. But one day, when the children are all gone and the house it too quiet, I will drape it across a bed and admire it often.
Quilt raffle
Last weekend a friend invited me to join the members of her quilting group downtown at the Center Stage Theatre for the opening of the musical “Quilters.”
The play tells the stories — in dialogue and song — that are stitched into the quilts that American women have sewn for hundreds of years. The women onstage, using patterns like “Lone Star” and “Double Wedding Ring,” sing of homemaking, love and loss.
In the final act of the play the women unfurl a pair of beautiful hand-made quilts, which were quilted by women in Spokane. As a fund-raiser for the theater, the quilts will be raffled off after the play closes on Oct. 16. Raffle tickets are sold at the end of each performance.
For more information on the CenterStage production of “Quilters” or to find out more about the quilt raffle, call (509) 747-8243 or go to www.spokanecenterstage.com.
Calendar
Saturday-Sunday: Watercolor artist Diane Culley and husband Sam will be holding a fall “That Certain Something” sale in the garden behind their South Hill home at 5119 South Sunward Drive (just north of Moran Prairie School.) The Culleys comb flea markets, estate sales and garage sales for interesting architectural items and furniture for their annual sales, which have been held at the Moran Prairie Grange and the Woman’s Club building on the South Hill.
The sale features pottery, furniture and one-of-a-kind treasures that have been hand-painted in a French country style. Hours are 9-6 Friday and Saturday 9-6.
For more information call 509-499-1739 or email at smculley@msn.com
Saturday-Sunday: The Farm Chicks Antique Show, Fairfield.
Hours are 10-4 Saturday and Sunday. Admission is $5. For more information go to www.thefarmchicks.com
Oct. 1-3: Custer’s 29th annual Fall Antique and Collectors Sale, at the Spokane Interstate Fairgrounds. Sale hours are Friday, 4-9 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.-8 p.m.; and Sunday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. The $5 admission is good all weekend. For more information go to www.custershows.com
Oct. 7-9: Fall Antique Show and Sale at St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral, 127 East 12th Ave. Preview party and sale will be Thursday, 7-10 p.m. Tickets for the preview are $20 and are good all weekend. Sale runs Friday 10-7 p.m. and Saturday 10-4. Admission is $5. Food, provided by “Shake, Rattle and Boil” will be available during sale hours. Proceeds from the sale will benefit The Cathedral and The Arts programs. For more information call 509-456-3634. Tickets will be available at the door.