My MIL invited me to a quilt show this past weekend. I've recently really started to develop an appreciation for them that I've not had before. My favorites are the "old fashioned" quilts. The kind you'd find on Antiques Roadshow or squirreled away in an older relatives cedar chest. The hand that made those quilts were ones of ingenuity and resourcefulness. Using things like flour sacks, clothing, curtains and old bedsheets to make something new. I've even seen a quilted jacket made out of ribbons once used to tie bundles of cigars.
I took my four year old daughter with us. I want to start exposing her to the beauty of things made by hand. I don't know if kids nowadays really are getting exposed to art like they should. School budget cuts have done away with pretty much all art in grade school. Parents forgo "messy" art projects and instead give their kids the obligatory crayons and markers to create their masterpieces. I sometimes am guilty of this and find myself telling my kids no when they want to paint, just because I don't want to clean up the mess. So much is to be learned by creating things with your own hands, in whatever medium you use.
Besides, personally I think there is a great life lesson to be learned by looking at a quilt. My daughter is too young to see the parallel, but I'm not. Little pieces of various fabric quilted together, making an overall larger and more beautiful picture. I'm surprised they've not made a Hallmark movie of the month yet!
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