Something from the past!

I discovered an old quilt in one of my boxes I've carried from house to house since I was a young girl.  It is twin size, and was made for me by my grandmother.  I believe she sewed the patches together by machine, but the quilting itself is all done by hand.  It is still in great shape except for the strip that goes entirely around the edges of the quilt.  So I washed and dried it today, and will decide if I will try to mend the edging.  I don't have a twin bed these days but I could use it when I take a nap on the couch, although I'm afraid Rocky will love it as much as I do.  The thing about quilts in the old days is that they were often made of old clothing and other cloth items that no longer served their original purpose.  So it really is a "blast from the past".

I was the first grandchild and my grandma and I had a special bond between us.  I loved her dearly and I know it was returned.  She lived to be nearly 98 (or maybe it was 99) when she was crossing the road to mail a letter.  She was then living in town and being a small country town there was very little traffic.  But someone came speeding up the road and it was estimated he was going 85 miles an hour when he hit my grandma, sending her body 75 feet from where she had been.  He was definitely inside the town limits, and was facing the bright morning sun; I'm sure he didn't see her.  He cried and admitted that he had killed her; when he hired a lawyer he changed his tune.  The judge ruled that since she was so old she didn't have long to live anyway, and the man got off scot free.  I hope he never got a decent night's sleep from that day on.  And the same goes for the judge!

I washed and dried the quilt and it looks beautiful, at least to me.  It is nothing fancy,  but was pieced together with scraps of material that I would probably have recognized when I was younger.  Old and outgrown clothing and fabric items were always sent to grandma for her quilts, and raising a large family she had probably a dozen or so quilts in her house at any one time.

I've often wondered if I have the longevity genes passed on by grandma.  Nearly all my aunts have lived into their 90's, including two that are still around!  My mother, unfortunately, died just before she turned 83, and I'm coming up on that age in several months from now.  I'm going for the 90's!