In 1960, after the birth of my first baby, I think I was in postpartum depression – not sure because nobody talked of such things way back then. I went to my sister-in-law/other mother whining that I was so bored and there was no hope of brightness on my horizon whatsoever. She popped me into the car, took me to town, bought quilt makings, brought me back home and proceeded to teach me how to make a quilt. I’ve never since whined about being bored!
In 1966, I wanted to give a very special birthday present to my mother-in-law; so I decided to make her a quilt – a satin quilt – blue on one side, white on the other. Four of my aunts (my father’s sisters) came to my home each day for a week to help me quilt it. They knew my mother-in-law, they loved to quilt, and I didn’t think of it at that time, but I think they must have loved me. We had a wonderful week sewing, chatting, lunching together.
I presented the quilt to my mother-in-law for her birthday – she accepted it graciously, but I never saw the quilt again. Many years later I asked her about the quilt and she said matter-of-factly that it had been lost or stolen when she moved.
In 2006 my mother-in-law died, and when we were going through her things in her home, we found a black plastic bag in the top of the linen closet and in the closet was the Quilt! -- Along with dish towels and pillow cases I had embroidered for her and that my grandmother had crocheted.
They were too nice to use. Right? Sometimes it's hard for me to use/wear the brand new and beautiful. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteIsn't that what Erma Bombeck wrote about at least once? And then, at the end of her life, she wrote that if she could do it over, she wouldn't put the treasures away for later; instead she'd use them, and use them up. To CC's point - we sometimes don't know what to do with things that people give us, and keeping them safe and pristine seems like a good thing to do.
ReplyDelete