My Mom's Tulip Quilt

This is the quilt that my mom gave me a few days ago. Along with the quilt is a note that tells how the quilt was made by her Great Grandmother in 1936....along with her "black housekeeper" (as the story has been passed down).



There are a couple of things that strike me in that statement: One, being that my Great, Great Grandmother had a housekeeper. At this point in her life she must have been older, and it was probably the housekeeper who she spent a great deal of her time with. Two, that she worked on the quilt with her housekeeper. I can only imagine the two of them sitting in the front room of a farm house working on it. There are not many other details to the story except that my mom was the only great grandchild that received a quilt. And that it was somewhat extravagant considering my Great Great Grandmother had a reputation for being frugal!

The quilt is definitely for a girl only, and it is twin size. Both are characteristics that limited the the use of the quilt. Not very practical if you ask me. I think that my Great Great Grandmother probably loved my mom very much.



I also tend to think that even if she and the housekeeper weren't "friends" she at least held her in high regard. The hand stitching is impeccable on this quilt and they must have spent many hours working on it together. I wish I could say that my Great Great Grandmother was the exception to the things that happened in the 30's in southern Missouri, and that her attitude was different than that of her peers... Indeed it could have been.

All of the beautiful things that we save and collect are even more cherished when we realize that they are our threads to the past. The stories are what they are. History.