Today I mailed three quit blocks for the quilt to be raffled off at the Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree on Saturday 11 June 2011 at the Marriott Burbank Conference Center. The block challenge is being sponsored by Genea-Quilters with the assistance of the Glendale Quilting Guild.

My three blocks were inspired by my maternal grandmother Alice (Brown) Perkins whom we called Nana Perkins, and my father’s sister, Virginia (Woodward) Smith.

I grew up in rural New Hampshire where I never knew anyone to produce a quilt that was not made from scraps left over from sewing clothing. The backing was generally a sheet, and instead of batting, the innards were generally two sheets that had been patched and/or very worn. It wasn’t until I left rural New Hampshire that I learned there were delightful block patterns and that some folks actually purchased fabric just for quilt making and that cotton (and later polyester) batting was available for loft and warmth. Nana Perkins started me off quilting, but we never used a particular pattern or “block design.” We did pre-determine the size of the squares and the width of piecing strips and the number of square we’d need for a particular project. Our blocks were built from non-descript strips and sometimes with embroidered elements (generally inspired by Aunt Virginia who did lots of hand embroidery and crewel work).  The squares I’ve submitted reflect the teachings of the two special women in my life, Nana Perkins and Aunt Virginia.

The first full size quilt I made for my son was a combination of embroidered and appliquéd squares of our favorite things. As I had been taught, the back was a sheet and the interior layer was a couple of worn sheets.

Copyright. Linda Woodward Geiger. All rights reserved.
linda@lindageiger.com