the quilt...

grandmother hazel's foxy quilt, canon digital rebel xti

I have been quiet lately. I have been consumed with work and working out (both of which are way to time consuming). They are taking away from my knitting and my photography. I hired a personal trainer and he is kicking my butt and I am also whimpering around with lactic acid build up in every muscle group. It even hurts to type. I know I need to do this for me right now and I need to prove to myself that despite my illness I can get in shape and be as physically strong as I am mentally.

Lately, I have been feeling very nostalgic and found myself wrapping up in a quit made by my great grandmother. It has been in storage for the last several years but I needed to wrap myself in her love. In every quilt she made, she always incorporated part of her clothes into them. She usually cut up old dresses or aprons. I think she wanted us all to have a piece of her when we she was gone. I smile every time I see an old photo of her in some wild dress pattern only to be reminded of that same dress when I use the quilt. She actually gave me two quilts. One was partially destroyed by my first dog, Simon. He took a big bite out of the bottom corner. This past week, I pulled it out of storage too and dropped it off at a local quilt shop to be repaired.

My great grandmother Hazel was the type of woman that called sew, quilt, knit, crochet, and bake. I realize that back in the day you learned all of those skills out of necessity but I can only dream of having time to do all of my crafts (knitting, jewelry making, baking, photography, sewing and inventing).