The Baby Quilt... Baby Goley's Heritage

Ok from the title you have probably gathered that today's post is about a quilt... boring! Maybe it will be, but maybe you will see how special family and heritage is to me. Dustin is sitting in his desk as I write stabbing his eyeballs out with Regions pens... Don't worry, I promise there will be colorful pictures and maybe I will even throw in a current A.M. bump pic!

Anyone who knows me knows that any time someone is giving away and old mirrors with stories, old photos and (a new found love) fabrics or quilts in our families, I jump at the chance! Well I was in luck a while back and came into my grandmother's entire fabric/ sewing/ quilting stash. I feel like the rest of the family who didn't want these things are crazy!!! But out of 5 children, a ton of grandchildren and even a handful of great grandchildren, I was the winner of this prize! 

In the stash I found out that not only was my grandmother an amazing eye for great fabrics and patterns but that she must have had it a lot worse than we could imagine. There were the tiniest scraps of every fabric saved for some kind of scrap quilt one day... can you say nightmare? Once all that was sorted, I started finding cool little tools and trinkets found in an old-timey sewing room, home made patterns (skill!), and basically everything I would need to fall in love with quilting and this family's past.

Now, from what I understand, quilting is a "Dying Art". I hate the way this sounds because to me it makes it sound hard and expensive! Our family goes back a long way with quilting. My grandmother published genealogy books in the Birmingham Library so I am sure she could tell you a lot more specifics about this topic. I have often checked the facts of different pieces with her and been amazed at their history. But again, from what I understand, my mom and aunt quilted in high school (they have a massive quilt each to prove it!), my grandmother quilted with them but also long before then, her mother and grandmother had to have quilted to teach her and then before them a long line of really antiquated women quilted.  I know there was a boarding house somewhere back there where she quilted for warmth, not style. There are so many styles of quilts displayed in my sewing cabinet form who knows when! As I find the quilt or quilt top, I try to get it to my grandmother to verify who made it and when.

Which brings us to quilt squares that were hand-sewn almost 100 years ago! Back in the 30s my grandmother was a little girl. Her grandmother handed down some quilting squares she had started on. They didn't match or have coordinating fabrics. They were very random in what fabrics she could get her hands on but all a very difficult, old pattern. Can I go ahead and stress that each squared was hand-sewn! Every dang detail! I am not even sure when they were made so there might not have been an option of using a machine to construct the square! I have had a quilter, who specializes in antique quilts, estimate from the fabrics and pattern that the squares were constructed in the early 20s... I am naming this quilt, "Stella Wester Lowry, Oneonta, AL. Est. 1930". Chills, people!

Now if you are bored out of your gourd, here is where the story says anything other than the drab history lesson I just gave you...

THIS is going to be our first baby quilt!

I have soaked it for 2 separate  sessions over the last 3 days and it has finally come as clean as it is going to get. The fabrics are somewhat thin and fragile so I will still have to iron and fuse them (this is when you iron a semi-hard backing to each square for support during sewing) and then add the sashing and border, a back piece and batting. I plan to hand-quilt this one to continue the style and traditions laced in it. So I guess I might want to quit yapping about it and get started! We only have 5 or so months left and hand-quilting is slow-moving! Every stitch is a sentiment of my love for this child and my love for ancestors I don't even know!

Above is a picture of the fabric I found to tie all the random pieces together and  some highlights of my favorite pieces. I hope that Baby Goley finds as much joy in understanding our roots as I do!


As promised, here are current pictures of the (17 weeks!) bump, this morning! Thanks for reading and pat yourself on the back for reading all the way through!

First skin shot!

First front shot!