Sunday, May 19, 2013

Blogger's Quilt Festival May 2013


Today I'm linking up with the Blogger's Quilt Festival over at Amy's Creative Side.  The quilt I'm sharing is very special to me and my family.  Back in the 1970's, my Mom started quilting.  She decided to make a family quilt to present to my grandmother (her mother-in-law).  She got everyone in the family to make a block that represented themselves and my grandmother.  She gave each person a packet of fabric, including several purple fabrics (Grandma's favorite color).  My Mom and my aunt Shirley made some filler blocks to round out the setting.

The upper blocks of the quilt depict my Grandmother and Grandfather, Viola and Lee Parham, and their seven children.  My grandmother was originally from Australia, and my grandfather was from Indiana.  They settled in San Francisco, where they raised their family.


I love looking over the quilt and seeing the story in the blocks - those of my grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles, and cousins.  My sister and I each have a block in the quilt as well.  I was the youngest contributor at 8 years old!

The quilt was presented to my grandmother in the late 1970's, and it hung in her bedroom until she passed in 1981.  I recently took the opportunity to photograph each block, which I posted to Flickr, so everyone could see the quilt and blocks at any time.  Head on over there to see each one!

Thanks to Amy Ellis at Amy's Creative Side for allowing me to share this very special quilt.  It looks like this time around the quilts in the Blogger's Quilt Festival are split up into categories.  You can find this quilt posted on the Group Quilts page.

Be sure to check out all of the amazing quilts in the festival!

5 comments:

CitricSugar said...

That's a pretty cool quilt! I love that the whole family had a hand in it. I hope it's appreciated for a very long time!

Skooks said...

I love these kind of collaborative quilts. I made a quilt block for my cousin when she graduated high school. Her mom/aunts were putting it together for her . . . I actually cross stitched a block of her dog. I was probably 15 or so at the time. Brings back memories! Thanks for sharing.

Robin said...

That is so cool that so many in the family were involved in the making of this quilt. Definitely a piece of family history to be treasured! :)

Rachel said...

That's awesome! I would love a quilt with so much of my family in it. Truly a quilt to be treasured.

Vivian said...

What a great family memory quilt. But even better for me is that this is such a perfect example of the fact that all we do now is not new -- it was pioneered by special people in all the generations before ours. This quilt is as "of the moment" now as it was when it was made!