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Each family member prepared one block to create a baby quilt.
By SUSAN KHALJE
SCRIPPS HOWARD
Webster's Dictionary defines an heirloom as " ... something having special ... sentimental value or significance that is handed on ... from one generation to another."
And it was clear to me, when I stopped in to see my girlfriend, Anne, yesterday, that she was creating just that.
Spread out on her dining room table was a lovely work-in-progress -- a baby quilt that she and her daughter Lisa have been working on. The project was started when Lisa was expecting her first child.
Anne, who is an artist, designed 15 blocks (each about 10" square); she and Lisa then spent a very fun afternoon at the fabric store choosing just the right fabrics. Family members and friends who agreed to participate were each sent a packet with their particular design, the fabrics they'd need, and instructions.
The sewing wasn't difficult-- most of it involved appliques that could easily be stitched by hand. Over time, the finished blocks were returned. What I found so delightful was Anne's enthusiasm as she told me who had worked on which design, who had sewn in a little surprise under one of the small appliques, who had added something, who had simplified something else, and so on.
Some of the squares were fastidiously finished; some were more casually done; and each clearly and lovingly represented the person who had worked on it.
The last of the squares has been returned, and it's time to complete the quilt. Anne is now embroidering the name of each participant on their particular square, and she's created a border for each block. What remains is to add the batting, the backing, the quilting and a narrow bias border around the entire quilt.
It's personal
It is all so very personal, which is exactly as it should be. I can see that this project already means the world to Anne and to her daughter, and I'm sure one day it will mean just as much to baby Sarah, too.
Perhaps I was so moved to see it because it made me think of the special set of beautiful quilts that my grandmother made for her nine grandchildren, one to be given to each on their wedding day.
I have mine and I treasure it -- in it I see not only her hours of careful work, but scraps of fabrics that were used for aprons, summer dresses and doll clothes.
How lucky we are that this art of ours lends itself so beautifully to the creation of such meaningful works, with such "special sentimental value," as Mr. Webster so accurately wrote.