The Ugly Quilt That Could

This quilt was pieced by my mom many years ago....at least 40 if not more. It was made in a completely different quilt era. This was a time when the ladies at the church would get together and quilt around a large frame. If you saw a pattern you liked you would get a cardboard template and take it home. Now whether that template was accurate was a risk. There were no rotary cutters, mats, or rulers. No template plastic nor quarter-inch sewing machine foot. There weren't any quilt books that explained how to go about doing it. You just used the cardboard template, pencil and scissors. I should mention that this is not an easy pattern. Y seams galore plus lot of "pinwheel" centers. I would hate to put this together today even with all my fancy quilting paraphernalia.

All of the fabric from this quilt is scraps leftover from garment sewing. There are several pieces that I absolutely love. I do not recognize any fabric from my clothing. There are some gauzy pieces, some seersucker and the usual broadcloth.

My favorite fabric is this black background print with the names of the items in french.

The cows cracks me up.....maybe it is a cows on crack.

How about the cowboy? It reminds me of some jammies my brother had. Not out of this exact fabric but something similar.

Mom was busy raising seven children, helping on the farm, ranch, dairy, and going to school to get her college degree. She made tops for her sanity. Sound familiar? After Mom pieced this top it was put in a box and eventually moved several times and was completely forgotten. Lately Mom has been going through her stuff to get rid of, organize and generally downsize. She found this top and a couple of other tops she had put together. She said that this quilt was the ugliest quilt she had ever seen and wondered if it was even worth quilting. One of my DD was there and expressed an interest in it, so the quilt top was rescued from the trash.

I brought the top home and quilted it this week. This quilt has it's problems....lots of pleats and tucks before I even quilted it. One corner is missing a block but I decided to quilt it as is.....just let it be. I don't think it is all that ugly. It speaks of a different time. One to be treasured.