Quilt

I am participating in the Blogging From A-Z Challenge.  Each day in April (except Sunday), I will post topic themes that begin with the letters of the alphabet, from A-Z.  Today's letter is Q.

One of my most prized possessions is a quilt.  My Grandma Joan made it for me when I was 9.  I don't recall exactly how long she worked on it, but I have very distinct memories of her cutting old blouses, sheets, and various rolls of fabric, and painstakingly pinning them together.  I also don't remember how much I helped or hindered the process, I just know I was fascinated by it.

When I look at my quilt, I'm flooded with appreciation.  Grandma Joan doled out as much discipline as she did love, but there was most definitely a strong balance between the two.  She was the embodiment of the term "starving artist".  What she lacked in finances, she made up for in raw talent.  Everything she made was a treasure.

Christmas 1989.  The year me & my doll got our quilts.

The year she gave me my quilt for Christmas was also the year she gave my mom & step-dad,  and my brother quilts.  She also made a bed set complete with a fitted sheet, mini-quilt, and matching jammies for my doll.  She worked endlessly on all of our gifts because she knew it was going to be her last Christmas with us.  She had cancer and was extremely sick.  Despite everything she must have been going through, her thoughts were on everyone else.  She wanted to leave us with something to remember her by.  

After nearly 24 years, my beloved quilt has taken a beating.  The underside has a few areas of missing fabric from where my brother's dog, Max, chewed it.  The squares are tattered, but mostly secure.  The edges are fraying.  Even so, it is the most beautiful blanket I own.  No other blanket seems to keep me quite as warm or makes me feel as cozy as that quilt.  It's been through the most eventful years of my life with me, and as long as it holds up it will be there to see me through many more years.  I've never been the type to place a high value on material possessions, but some things are so much more than material.