Quilting - Common Threads Through Time, published by Gloucester Co. Historical Society, NJ (review and thoughts)

Several years ago, I was fortunate in visiting the Gloucester County Historica Scoiety for the Quilt show. I have been to GCHS many times for many exhibitions, but this was especially interesting to me because my Grandmother, Mabel Young Wright, was a quilter. Every grandchild was given a quilt and my cousin Patty Gushue. inherited several more which she gave to her granddaughters. She also gave one to my daughter, Lavinia Jones Wright, when she married 6 or 7 years ago. I still have my childhood sunbonnet babies quilt somewhere in the atic in tattered remnants from frequet use and washing. My marriage quilt, the wedding ring patter (I think) is still in the cedar chest in the attic as well- also much used and washed.

Among the many things I love about quilts are that they were hand made from readily available materials (often in early days, from re-purposed fabric from worn out clothing) and making quilts allowed women in the past, who had so few opportunities to excercise artisitic creativity in between child rearing and the rigors of housekeeping, a chance to meditate, concentrate and make something beautiful. I love the thriftiness of the early quilts from worn out clothing. I have an afghan made from scraps of wool yard too small to use for knitting, that the same grandmother made.

When I saw that the GCHS had published a book about their quilt collection, I hurried over to buy 4 copies, one for myself, which I just read, and one for my daughter, my cousin Patty, and my sister (who still has her quilt).

Not only do quilts tell the history of a community of women, their marriages, their departures and arrivals in new homes, the generations of daughters and sons and their life events, they tell the story of the history of fabrics, such a big part of American history - think COTTON ald all that implies.

For several years I have been searching for a close by daytime quilting group and this morning after I finished my book, I found one - in Audubon and I am on my way there now to see if I can sign up for daytime classes! I will write more about the book and about the quilt shop when I return.

I am so lucky! wrightj45@yahoo.com