Family Quilts - September 2011

Children grow up. They move away. Our daughter's bedroom becomes the guest room. She comes home for a weekend visit and how do we make it special? We cover the bed with a quilt from Grandma Amy.

My mother-in-law, Amy Zeigler Brown, was raised on a family farm near Richland, Pennsylvania. Her father was a Brethren minister who died young, leaving his widow and ten children to work their farm during the Great Depression. Adventurous Amy went to nursing school in Chicago, fell in love with a doctor and converted to Judaism in order to marry him. They moved to Los Angeles where she followed her creative muse and became an artist.

Throughout her life, Amy collected quilts. She'd visit her family in Richland and go see "the quilt lady" - a Mennonite woman who acted as a quilt broker for the Amish community. Amy had quilts on beds, displayed on walls, and stored away in a trunk in the entry hall. When I married her oldest son, we were invited to select a quilt from the trunk. When our children were born, each received a crib quilt from Grandma and Grandpa - a red one for our daughter, blue for our son.

When Amy passed away, we received some of the quilts stored in that trunk and the memories associated with them. Years later, our daughter grew up and moved out - taking a quilt with her. When our son sets up his own household, we hope he will do the same.  With this tradition of family quilts, arranging the guest room became a joyful act of remembrance. Welcome home, and thank you, Grandma Amy!