The Pink Quilt

pinkblanket1 I have the sweetest story to tell you! Years ago when we were living in Hoboken I found an old pink quilt at my parents home in New York. I must have borrowed it one day from their house and it ended up staying with us for years. It was in pretty bad shape by the time we moved to Salt Lake and Henry was born. It was tattered on the edges and in many spots but it was so old and worn and comfy. I loved it. Finally, it was so destroyed that I tucked it away in a closet and kind of forgot about it.

pinkblanket2A couple months ago, my sister in law Rachel offered to make me a custom quilt for the new baby. She just started this brilliant quilting shop called Yellow Bug Quilt where she makes and sells custom quilts for clients. We started talking about all kind of options, I sent her some pinterest links and color combination ideas. I was really excited about it, I love the idea of having a quilt that is exactly what you want. Then one day I remembered that old pink quilt I was so attached to…

I thought because I had loved it so much it might be fun to have Rachel try to repair it and turn it into a baby quilt. She was totally game to the idea and I mailed it out to her. It was in really bad shape, but she managed to repair some parts (with these cute hearts), re-bind the edges, and find an area to use for a baby sized blanket. I was so excited to get in the mail, she did an amazing job!

pinkblanket3Okay, so then, then! I was talking to my mother last week and asked her about where that old pink quilt came from. She said her grandmother, Violet Call (married to Henry Call who our Henry is named after), made it for her when she was a little girl! I had no idea it was a family heirloom piece!

pinkblanket4I started to tear up hearing about it and thinking that our little girl will have a sweet, beautiful quilt made by her great great grandmother!  I’m so glad that I hadn’t tossed it and that Rachel was able make it into something really special.

Do you have any family heirloom pieces you’ve kept? Is that something that’s important to you? We don’t have much but this quilt means so much to me now, I think I might make more of a conscious effort to keep special family pieces around. It makes me that much more excited to meet this little lady (due in a month!)

Comments

This reminds me of one of my favorite picture books from my childhood: The Quilt Story by Tony Johnston and Tomie De Paola.

love stories like this! my son uses the baby blanket that his dad used when he was a baby, which was made for him by his great-grandma (my son’s great-great grandma). it is starting to look tattered, but we could never part with it.

This is so sweet! I found a similar blanket at my mom’s house too but didn’t have a use for it. I think it was made for my mom by my great grandmother, and so being almost sixty years old it too had holes and was thin and falling apart. But I fell in love with it anyway and used it to wrap our baby daughter in to bless and then bury her in last year. So even though we didn’t actually get to use it as a full-time blanket again, it’s really neat to me to know it served its purpose. I don’t usually love family heirlooms, but I am so grateful someone kept the blanket all those years for us! Your daughter will love yours!

I’m so sorry to hear about your little girl, but what a sweet story about the family heirloom blanket staying with her. xoxo

Thank you for sharing this story. It is especially timely for me. I just finished a quilt for my 4 year old. It was a labor of love…emphasis on “labor.” It kicked my butt. I’m so glad it’s done, but I feel like I sort of never want to make another quilt again. Your story makes me imagine that in 100 years one of my great great grandbabies will be lovingly wrapped in a piece of the same quilt. Now I’m not so annoyed. 🙂

Oh that is so sweet! It is a lot of work, I tried to make one when my son was a baby. I’m so glad you did it though, hopefully it will get passed down as well!

What a heartfelt keepsake for yourself and your daughter – it warms my heart to know that there are others who value their family history and the treasures it holds. Many blessings…

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