About the Quilt

I've been working on this quilt since long before Arden was born. The batting — the heart — is an old tattered bedspread from my very early childhood. Other children cling to a blankie. I clung — apparently — to an entire, quilted, twin-sized bedspread. You'd probably even recognize the pattern — if you could see it. It's one of those recognizable early 70s bedroom patterns. Like, um, this:


Orange roses on green vines. Woodies, maybe Hecht's circa 1976. My parents tried to match the color of the stems when they painted their walls. Ah, good times. It was like that for years ... That green room used to be my sleepy place. I think about that, sometimes, when one of the kids crawls in bed with me at 5 a.m. I think about the green room.

Back to my quilt. The old comforter traveled with me and got softer and more wonderful straight through college. By the time I headed into my outdoor life I had made a white duvet for it out of two old army sheets my mom had in a trunk in the basement. I decorated the closure with buttons I'd collected over the years. I have no idea what happened to it — probably made way for a real down comforter.

When I moved into the Leadville house I found a huge popcorn tin full of pre-cut fabric and started stitching the squares together for fun. Then life got interesting, and sitting around stitching things for fun became a thing of the past. The quarter quilt and my giant binky moved around with me six times and across 5,000 miles before landing here.

IN THE MEANTIME — we got this awesome wedding gift from our dear friend Joanna. A quilt. It lived on our bed for a while. Then I had to rescue it from the boat, where it was growing too comfortable. I washed it up and made a baby mat out of it:

Learning to crawl

Last winter, the wedding quilt became Arden's winter bedspread and kept her warm until it was literally shredding on the backside from love.

AND SO — I have taken the three sentimental quilts — the Giant Bedspread Security Blanket, the Leadville Quarter Quilt and The Wedding Quilt — and married them into one crazy but much loved and far-traveled blanket. There is some serious sentiment in that thar' blanket. And, assuming, if I manage to finish it before winter, she will love it forever. Until she decides she'd rather have a Dora bedspread. (Over my dead body.)