j-flamingo reflections

Inspired by the grace and beauty of the flamingo, my life reflected by my love of reading, writing and creating.

The Quilts of Grandma Rae

It's hard to believe that it has been about 10-11 years since I finished this quilt with my sweet Grandma Rae. She had a dream to make a quilt for each of her grandchildren. Since it is so time consuming and her grandchildren kept growing and coming so fast, I'm not sure how many she was actually able to make.
I feel lucky and happy that she invited me over at a time when I lived close enough to walk over and help her finish my quilt. She let me choose my colors, fabric and pattern. I chose the star quilt pattern because I had an orange star quilt as a young girl growing up that I just loved so much that it tattered away to pieces eventually. I missed it and its comfort so much.
I really needed this experience in my life back then. She helped me in many ways and through each step in the quilting process. Some parts are more fun than others in quilting. It was a challenge and a lot of work. What I enjoyed most was the warm relationship that I gained with my Grandma Rae and the insight I saw into my own mother's past also. I will always treasure this moment and think of my loving Grandma fondly.
One part that I will always remember was my first little girl, Hopie, was playing around us as we were working on this quilt. It's another reason why it means so much to me. I was a new and very nervous mother. I wasn't used to the unexpected things that little ones do at Hopie's young, around 12-18 months, age.
Once, little Hopie, tried to stand up using a TV tray and since it wasn't very stable at all, it collapsed on her and she hurt her head. Immediately, my Grandma helped Hopie and me, then we ended up in the ER for her to have stitches. It was so scary then but with quick action Hopie recovered nicely and she is fine, of course, at 12 yrs. old now.
Another incident, was when Hopie tried to drink some of my Grandmother's fabric dye. We hastily called Poison Control and followed their directions to help Hopie. It all worked out without another trip to the ER, but Hopie had a nice dark brown ring around her lips and a brown tongue for a few days. I remember that she would still smile so cute and with that brown circle around her mouth, if you can just picture that, well then, I couldn't help but smile back.
These are what I recall of the cherished memories I have of making a quilt with my Grandma Rae. I'm grateful to her love, gratitude, knowledge, outlook on life, quilting experience and her inspiration. She was literally a life-saver to me through all of this!

3 comments:

Bonnie September 24, 2008 at 7:17 AM  

That is really neat Julie:)

Samuel October 4, 2008 at 6:16 PM  

I got a quilt she came over and made mine, andy's, and mikes all in one weekend or something. I have mine and Andy's they are the only things I like when I go to sleep.

Samuel October 21, 2008 at 10:31 PM  

Mom corrected me, Grandma only helped mom make those quilts, but they were mom's quilts.

About this blog

Welcome Readers~to my blog! A tiny extension of myself and my life. Here, I'll share this journey through my top passions in my life - reading, writing, and creating. You can expect to read poetry, view my papercrafts and read design related posts. Every once in a while, I hope you'll grasp an honest feel of my heart. If you haven't noticed, I love flamingos! I think they are beautiful birds. *Thanks for your attention.*

She is pure Alice in Wonderland, and her appearance and demeanor are a nicely judged mix of the Red Queen and a flamingo.
~Truman Capote

welcome vistors

About my original stories & poetry: Please be courteous.

Protected by Copyscape Duplicate Content Protection Tool

Look who did my page

Julie Hatch Carter's Facebook profile

my little tweets

    follow me on Twitter

    I've read

    Widget_logo

    My Bookshelf - What I'm currently reading

    Shelfari: Book reviews on your book blog

    "Advertising isn't a science. It's persuasion. And persuasion is an art." ~William Bernbach

    Followers

    About Me

    My photo
    I love living my life through reading books, creating beautiful things to make people happy, and sharing snipits of the world as I see it through writing, blogging or designing.

    Labels