used and abused

I've had the words from an old phone company commercial running through my head... No one else seems to remember the same commercial and, sadly, it seems to be the only one ever made that's not on You Tube.

(to the Anvil Chorus)

Used
Used
Sometimes abused
It is the one that we use

That totally describes the way quilts at my house get treated. And maybe suggests that I watched too much television as a kid...

Although it sometimes feels that way, not all of my quilts have met with disaster. There's the one that Leif practiced his emerging scissors skills on. And the one he doodled on. The one they duct taped pennies to, which I didn't find until taking it out of the dryer (As near as I can tell, someone was hiding his special treasure from his brother.) And the one with the mystery stains that Will Not Come Out. Which I think I might've contributed to myself.

Not too bad, considering how many quilts I've made.



My great grandmother won this quilt. The blocks came from the senior center and she won the finished quilt. Turns out the one she made isn't the one I've had permanently stuck in my head, but that's okay.

Grandma let us use this quilt when we slept over. We'd curl up in it, spread it out on the floor and roll in it. (No ink or duct tape, though!)I'm sure it got the quilt a little dirty, strained the seams, and otherwise contributed to the general wear and tear.

But I KNOW this quilt. Even before I knew who made it, or what its story was, I knew the blocks and had my favorites. And I've seriously got dibs on this down the road.

This is the block my great grandmother made --



And this is the one that always comes to mind when I think of the quilt --



I never noticed this block before I went over to take pictures of the quilt. I thought she was a moon, but she's got a leaf on her head. Is she a peach? If she is a peach, why is she purple? I think I've got a new favorite block now.




Quilts that are used and seen, that people know -- Isn't that better than immaculately preserved heirlooms that never see the light of day?