Quilting to Keep a Legacy Alive!

My earliest memory of quilting is of ladies working in the basement of the old Mennonite church in my home town of Monroe, Washington. There was one night a month dedicated to their goal. They were the Women's Missionary Society with the sole purpose of building crazy quilts. The room was filled with women talking and laughing; women sitting at tables tracing squares onto fabric,and cutting out those squares; and ladies at every sewing machine you could see, sewing those random colored squares together into quilt tops.
What captured my attention at the age of four was the final stage of the quilt... There were wooded towers at each corner of the rectangle, standing waste high. Four 2x2 long boards connected the towers. At each corner the 2x2 boards were anchored to the towers with a "D" clamp. This was the frame for finishing the blanket. The solid colored backing was thumb tacked down to the 2x2 and stretched tight. Then a layer of fluffy batting was rolled on top of the backing material. The best part was next...the crazy quilt top carefully stretched over the batting. With precision the ladies of the Women's Missionary Society tacked it down to the 2x2's and began weaving the doily thread through all of the layers, sniping half way between each weave creating ties. Quick as whistle the blanket would be anchored by ties every six inches and removed from the frame. A small group of ladies in a circle would hand sew the finished edges. Do you know where those quilts were sent? Every corner of the world...really!

My grandma Senner was one of the ladies of the Women's Missionary Society. At her home she would recreate the same scene. And when I was tall enough she would have me stand at the frame a weave the thread. She made quilts for her children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren, and anyone who needed a blanket. She created the blankets from scraps and yet with so much love. The blankets were not perfect, never intended to be and no one noticed or cared. All anyone knew was that they were given a treasure.

So I quilt with her in mind, never made perfect, but always made with love.