Monday, December 20, 2010

Memory Quilt


Just a quick note to say.... had the cold for 3 Saturdays - yes, three weeks!  Am just now coming out of the fog that is Cold Meds.  Final exams are finito.  Grades are almost -- portfolios... what WAS I thinking? Looking at about 3 hours of reading/scanning/grading.  And then.... done until August 2011. Which is another subject for another time, but suffice to say this will be the first time in 30 years of teaching that I've taken any time off. Wow.


My first goal, even before grades and finals, was to finish the Memory Quilt that I've been creating for my mom.  And... over the weekend, I did.  Here is the final piece de resistance...


Click on the picture to see the full quilt and Casou!


The pictures start at the upper left corner and proceed in somewhat chronological order, except for the middle row where I placed pictures of my parents -- the left is from their honeymoon and the right is a shot from an anniversary.  The sibling pictures are mostly standard studio sittings,  photos which start with me (the first/oldest) born in 1951 (so the picture is circa 1952) and then we add one sib every couple years until we get to #4 who is one year and a day after #3 (wow Mom!).  In 1966, when I was going on 15 and Mom was 40, we added #6, but I couldn't find the sitting we did when my baby sister was probably a year old?  I knew exactly the picture, so I sent my brother on an errand to claim it! And he did!  That was the last sitting my parents "made us" do.... Seriously, I'm guessing 1967 because I remember the dress I'm wearing -- my mom bought it for me to wear at a Christmas "semi-formal" dance -- my first at OGHS, which would have been December 1966.  I remember being a bit peeved that Mom bought the dress without me (we didn't "shop" in those days) but eventually as with many things (including a pair of penny loafers she also bought me without input), I ended up loving the dress.  It's kelly green with white lace and not fancy, but cotton (not so semi-formal).  Sorry for the digression.  Christmas always seems to flood my mind with memories of the ghosts -- people and events that have passed.


I want to post some of the pictures from the quilt, but right now I'm off to do some errands.  I'll post 'em later.

2 comments:

Beth said...

That's really awesome. Such a touching gift and filled with some much love. Happy Holidays!

Zee said...

Thank you, Beth!