The story in the quilt

Whether as a way to pass the time as I do the most tedious bits of quilting, or as a way to help me decide on all the elements as I go (I'm not one for doing an overall, repeating pattern and often do scrappy, which is to say mix-and-match colors and patterns rather than the same fabrics throughout for each part of a pattern), I often have a meaning, a message, or just my own idea of a "story" in almost every quilt I've done, even if most of the time the message is not one I expect anyone to even know or guess.

For Quilts of Valor, the basic message is usually obvious and well known - I appreciate the soldiers wounded for their country enough to make a quilt for them and show that they are a hero by using the colors of the flag or some variation thereon (it might be pastels or country colors (indigo, rose, and cream) rather than the heraldic bright red, white, and blue). Still, there might be other less obvious elements as well, less than symetric stars to represented the wounded hero, pieces large and small as representative of family members, symbols of the military forces or a particular military force. And sometimes I'll use fabric with words expressive of the soldier's assumed qualities, like courage and patriotism, or messages of my wishes for them, such a hope, joy, peace, and comfort. If I can't find a fabric that does the trick, I might use the words or associated symbols as part of the quilting pattern, never expecting them to be noticed but wanting them to be there none-the-less.

Currently I'm working on a wedding quilt and it will be filled with messages and story's, too, though I expect virtually none but the most obvious symbols of hearts and rings for love and commitment to be noticed. The colors are generally darker than I might otherwise have chosen but they have picked a fall wedding and fall colors tend toward the darker and I went with that. It includes new and older fabrics (from the store and the stash, respectively). I don't know the couple well (she is family but not often seen in her youth) so the story isn't about them but about marriage life: bright colors and patterns for pleasant times and parties, and a few dark squares, even black because marriage and life is never without its sorrows. There will be a few patches from baby quilts as representative of the wish for fertility and a next generation. The inner section includes a wide rings of simple (but colorful squares), then a border of cream, then a new pattern of bigger blocks of triangles, at least according to the current plan, the whole representing the changes through which relationships pass, the challenges and pleasures, and so on, with many messages and elements of the story yet to be decided. I may add a pocket in the center or on each side for love notes, a house, figures in quilting or embroidery though probably not pieced unless I find myself with an unexpected lot of extra time--I've gotten early start but know my time disappears fast!

Many quilts convey other messages through block names (isolated stars, yellow flower blocks, and mixes of beach blue, sand yellow, and streams of black might together be representative of Texas--lone star state, yellow roses, beaches and desserts and crude oil--for example). the closest I've come to that sort was in the quilting, when I drew pictures on the back of a blue crazy quilt that were representative of my life to that point - place I'd been, holidays, family members, hobbies, each topic gathered in a section of the quilt. These days, ti might be expected to be in color and more visible, perhaps embroidered, but at the time white was the favored color of quilting thread so they are all white on light blue and take a little study. With the colorful side up they are invisible, but the story is still there for the finding on some chilly evening fit for remmenising.

Most. though are more subtle, with colors that might mean something to the maker but no one else, a scrap from a past project that recalls memories of that project and why it was made, or left undone, a complex pattern that reminded the maker of something from their shared past with the recipient, a pinwheel to represent a company logo, a dancer to remind of shared adventures or classes or dates, a flower to represent spring or summer, joy or romance, gardening or art. Only the maker might ever know.

Nest time you plan a craft project, or receive one, take a closer look at the design and the making. What message has the maker offered with each stitch?