Family Reunion

I am taking a break from quilting and blogging until Monday.  I am heading to our annual family reunion in Mississippi today.  The whole family is excited, as even though it is an annual event, we have had to miss the last two years.  We usually are regular attendees.  I am thrilled to hear that the weather forecast is sunny with highs in the low 60's and lows in the low 40's.  Ready to escape this heat and humidity!!

While we are this topic, I have to share with you the second quilt I made.  This was made for my Granny Harper's 90th birthday.  After assembling the quilt top, I hand stitched photos from past family reunions that I had printed onto photo fabric. (You know, there are family reunions and then THERE ARE FAMILY REUNIONS.  Ours is the latter.  I won't go on and on about it, but suffice it to say that this reunion is totally organized, standing date on the calendar and cabins booked two years in advance.  My granny lived for these reunions.  She's the true family matriarch.  I only mention this to give importance to the pictures from these past reunions.)  As I do most things, this was a last minute brain storm idea so I did not have time for family members to sign blocks or write messages on blocks or any other brilliant idea that came to mind.  So I had everyone email messages to me for my grandmother, and I typed them on pretty paper using pretty colors and fonts.  I made them into cards with pictures of each of them with my grandmother on the front of the card and their message on the inside.  I sewed a big pocket onto the back of the quilt with a button for closing and placed all the cards in the pocket.  After she opened and read all the cards, I had her put them in a special place so that she could then use the quilt as a quilt and not have the pocket bulging.

My Granny Harper loved it!!!  Of course, she would have loved anything given to her, but I could tell she was really proud of this quilt.  She was only able to enjoy the quilt for a short time before she passed away suddenly.  I was so touched when my Dad had the quilt on display at her funeral and so many of her friends made a special point to tell me how much she loved that quilt and how she would bring it to her Ladies Circle and tell them that her granddaughter in Florida made it for her.

My Dad gave the quilt back to me, and it sits on the child's antique rocker that was my grandmother's grandmother's rocker.  How I treasure both!!  The photographs are a little faded due to all the washings....this quilt is definitely used!!!  Excuse my travel down memory lane.  I got a little carried away (lucky for you, I actually deleted several paragraphs of my ramblings).  Have an amazing weekend!!  See you on Monday!!