Doll Quilt

Please come with me as I take a short walk down memory lane. Recently, when sorting through a box of things given to me by my sister, I found a little doll quilt that my mother made for us. Seeing it flooded me with a multitude of emotions and memories. Imperfect and random, this quilt reminds me of my childhood and my mother. Mom always had a project in hand and when sister and I were children, those projects usually represented something she was making for us --- a doll dress, a blanket or quilt, or things for us to wear. Just as antique quilts are dated by fabric choices, I can date this little quilt from my own memory bank. I recognize most of these fabrics as scraps from dresses made by my "second mother", Auntie Joyce. From this analysis, I can date this quilt at about forty-some years old. Who'd have thought in those days that this many years later it would carry me back to those childhood memories, of mom and Auntie Joyce --- the important women in my life. They were the ones who helped form me into the person I am today, presenting values, ideals, and teaching lessons that remain to this day. Each vastly different, yet friends who represented similar core values and then imparted them on to me.

And all this from my little doll quilt. . .