Sunday, July 26, 2009

A Special Aunt


My Mom was the baby of the family with 6 siblings, the oldest of which is my Aunt Shirley. Aunt Shirley is 20 years older than my Mom, and therefore sometimes felt more like a Mom to my Mom and a Grandma to me. She has always been a very special person in my life.

As a child, I can remember going to her house and my sister and I would always cry when we had to leave. Like I said before, she always felt more like a Grandma, and we even called her husband, my Uncle Carl, Papa. He was the only Grandpa figure I remember, as one grandpa passed away long before I was born, and the other one when I was around 2. Unfortunately, Papa passed away a little over 20 years ago.

Aunt Shirley continued on though, still being someone very special in my life. She loves to do for, and give to others. About 10 years ago, I graduated from college, and her gift to me was a beautiful hand made quilt. Well, after receiving that quilt, I had a new obsession. I love quilts. I would love to be able to make them, but I probably would not have the patience to do them by hand like Aunt Shirley. Also, I have a wrist that bothers me quite a bit, so I don't even know if I would physically be able to do this. It has always amazed me though, how Aunt Shirly, being around 82 years old now, can still whip out quilts at an amazing speed. Since that first quilt I received back in 1999, Aunt Shirley has made around 6 or 7 for my family alone.

The quilt above is a quilt that I went out and bought the fabric for, intending on trying to make a quilt for Levi myself, but I just didn't have the patience or the time. So, I took the fabric to Aunt Shirley and asked her if she could make it. Well, she had the top of the quilt done in about 2 weeks. She doesn't do her own quilting anymore, so the quilt was then off to a woman she uses to be quilted. After just a few days it was ready, and I went and picked it up yesterday. I tried to pay Aunt Shirley something for doing this for me, but she absolutely refused as she always does. I will just have to go buy her something special or take her out to lunch sometime. She sure deserves it.

2 comments:

  1. I loved that story. I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw that quilt. I am making one right now just like it except that looks like brown, mine is green. It is my first quilt. I have sewn all my life and this is the first quilt. We have 6 children and 12 grands, I don't know who will get this quilt. I probably won't live long enough to do 6. I am piecing mine on the Singer and moving pretty good. Blessings
    QMM

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  2. QMM, thanks for your comment. I absolutely love quilts. If I had enough room and places for them, I would collect them. My aunt still pieces them by hand, which is unbelievable to me.
    Jackleen

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