How To Memory Quilt

The memory quilter

Marys' Patch Blog » Blog Archive » Feeling very old and memory quilts

Well I woke up this morning and have to admit to feeling very old. Not because I found a grey hair (although my hair is starting to look less red than it used to), not because I found (another) wrinkle and not because I ached any more than usual when getting out of bed. No I felt very old because my oldest son arrived down for breakfast wearing a shirt and tie for school. He is moving up into third year at High School today and the school uniform switches from polo shirts (with the school logo) to shirt and school tie. It hardly seems possible, I remember knitting his first cardigans and making his first little quilts. I still have the cardigan he came out of hospital in – his Peter Rabbit cardigan that my mum (the “other Mary”) had made for him (blue cables with little gold buttons down the front, just like in the stories).

I think of the quilts and craft projects that have been completed for my children as almost marking the different stages of their lives – the small jumpers, quilts and pram covers made for them prior to their arrivals. The character jumpers made for them as they got older – they both had Pink Panther jumpers because my dad comes from the Durham area – think about it! The quilts made for going into their big beds and now the quilts made for their double beds – what is it with children these days having double beds?

Each quilt is now lovingly folded away, saved as memories for all of us. I intend to make a memory quilt one day for the boys. Now this is easy if you have girls because there are lots of pretty dresses etc which can be chopped up for patching – boys, well that is less easy. I have seen very successful quilts made using bits of football strips (something neither of my kids were really into), but in terms of their ordinary clothes, 100% cotton in the right weight were few and far between. To get around that problem, I started using fabric paints with my children when they were very small. I used some plain white cotton and fabric paint to capture hand and foot prints of the children at their various sizes. When their shoes had interesting soles, I used these as well! I now have a nice little stash of fabrics which I will use together with pictures of them as small children to make their “Memory Quilts” when they are older and when I have time (so quite some time in the future!).

One of the benefits of running Marys’ Patch is that I can choose the fabrics that we will stock (with the assistance of the “other Mary”). Because I appreciate the problems of having boys – in terms of finding suitable materials to make quilts, I always try to make sure that I have a good selection of fabrics which are suitable for boys – especially older ones if possible. We have some lovely star fabrics in stock at present which are great for older boys, plus cars, boats, pirates, dinosaurs – all great fun.

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