this IS my grandmother's quilt

Bow tie blocks, hand pieced and hand quilted by Frances Duryea (my paternal grandmother).
Not exactly sure when this was made, probably circa 1960. Dawson, Nebraska.

These days you hear the saying... "this is not your grandfather's ___" bank... or car... or company... whatever. You fill in the blank. We hear this constantly now in advertising and media, and it's even becoming part of our own conversations. This phrase seems to be telling us: We're so much better than the generation before us, and certainly better than two generations ago. I wonder.

What I think is that people haven't really changed all that much. Certainly, the things around us have changed drastically, our lives have improved and so has our wealth and everything a higher standard of living brings.  But people, are essentially, the same. We still have the same desire to love and live in peace.

Most of us who quilt had mothers or grandmothers who quilted. In fact, quilting at one time was ubiquitous --- partially for practical reasons, of course. But I would guess that most early quilters also found both solace and artistic expression in their needle and thread... the same way we do today.  

My grandmother was constantly in motion... either working, cooking, sewing, running the church, or of course, quilting. One of her quilts is pictured above. These bow tie blocks founds their way to me many years ago and I'm so lucky to have this quilt to remind me of her. It also reminds me that even though the world around me has changed a great deal, when I sit to sew, I'm a lot like her!