Anniversary Quilt

It's here! My mother, an extremely creative and talented lady, made a quilt for my 25th wedding anniversary, which Mark and I will be celebrating on the 28th of this month. The quilt was actually created by several members of mom's quilt guild. This is a very special gift, as the fabrics and patterns were carefully chosen to represent parts of our life together, and I have discovered all kinds of little surprises that were skillfully and lovingly incorporated into the design. Now I'm going to repaint my bedroom and do some redecorating, in order to adequately showcase this treasure. Mom, I can never thank you enough.


The center is a Ohio Star, which is the pattern I used on the first ( and only) quilt I ever made, back in my college days. It is surrounded by blocks of Log Cabin, which represent our home.

The corners are appliqued with dogwood blossoms, which are the state flower of North Carolina. I don't know if you can see it here, but the there is a cross quilted in the middle of the dark green area. The strip of colored triangles above and below the center block is called Flying Geese, and represents the state of Minnesota, where we lived for four years before moving to NC. The strip of rectangles on the side is called Piano Keys.





I learned to play the piano as a child and have always loved music, and my children also have learned to play the piano as well as other instruments.



This arrangement of Log Cabin blocks, with the dark colors meeting on the sides to form a triangle, is called Mountain Peaks ( or something like that ) and represents are love for camping and our trips to the Smokey Mountains and Rocky Mountains.





As we admired the new quilt on the bed, we started noticing some things that weren't obvious at first. There are words quilted in some of the borders! If you look below, you might be able to make out the word "literature"! There is a strip of quilting near the bottom that says "A B C, Biology, History, 1 2 3, Literature, E=mc 2 ". That represents our Homeschooling! How cool is that?!!




There is also a pink strip going around the quilt with the words "Faith, Hope, Love, Charity" quilted into it. This echoes one of the fabrics used in the quilt, and reflects our Christian faith.

Even the back of the quilt is meaningful, because mom found fabrics of the state flowers from the states we have lived in ~ Mountain laurel from CT where I was born; Mayflower from MA where we both grew up, went to school, met and got married; Cherokee rose from GA where we lived for one year while Mark was in grad school; orange blossom from FL where we lived for 6 years; pink & while ladyslipper from MN where we lived for 4 years; and American dogwood from NC, where we have lived now for 14 years!

Mom always told us growing up that homemade was the best kind of gift, and gifts should be from the heart. This quilt truly reflects mom's heart. I love you, Mom.