Grandma Thorp

At the arrival of Sept. I had decided that I would be more diligent in my Blogging. DH always says that plains are just something for God to laugh at. Sometimes I think he is right, ie: the second weekend in Sept (last weekend) I spent sick in bed with the flue. No Quilting. No Blogging. Last evening, while busy in my Mom's apartment, I was thinking about when this busy busy weekend I was going to find time to quilt or blog. But then, my one morning to get any extra sleep I wake up at 5 minutes to 6:oo with an asthma attack ( no getting back to sleep for an hour or more). So I might as well get up and stay up. DH can sleep. Hey it is a perfect time to Blogg.


I believe I have introduced you all to my Grandma, Minnie Thorp. This first pic is of her, my sister, my cousin and myself. It was taken about 1964. I am the one in the back wearing a red vest.

The second pic is same group but when I was about 3 weeks old (1950).

A few years ago while helping my Mom clean out some things at her house, we came across some of my Grand mother's scrap bags. I brought them home and washed them. My fur baby then helped me sort it all out.


The scraps ranged from the 30's through the 50's. I have later come across many more such bags. Some of the scraps go back to the 20's.

I have also come across other items such as grandma's Italian gloves from the 30's or 40's. I think she kept them for very best wear. They don't even look like she ever wore them. Then there was her 30's/40's hanky. She always had a hanky in her pocket or up her sleeve. They always had lace and/or embroidery. So I made this quilt using her scraps. The green with stars and Lilac are repo fabrics. The bright pink, red check, and blue are 30's fabric. The pink with roses is 20's fabric. The Red with white flowers is 40's. The corner green is 30's rayon, very delicate so I stabilized it with white cotton.



The detail shot is closer to the true color. I don't know why but I never can seem to get a pic of this quilt with true colors.

An interesting effect that this quilt seems to have on people, when people come close to it the want to put their hands on it. When I had it hang on my wall at work for a while so many people would ask permission to just touch it. Or they would walk up and just lay their hands on the background. I have been told "It is just drawing me to it". I think it is like my Grandma is reaching out and people have to take her hand, or be embraced by her. The same thing has happened while it hung at home. For a time it hung in my parents apartment downstairs. When the visiting home nurse came to check my Dad, she couldn't take her eyes off it. Finally she said "forgive me, but there is just something compelling me to. May I touch it?" "Of course you can" I told her. She stood for a good 5 minutes just running her fingers around the edge of the gloves and fan. Then put her hand on the back ground. When she turned around she asked about the quilt.

Some of you who come to visit my blog have told me that you like my stories about my quilty things. As I may have mentioned before; I believe all quilts have a story and tell a story. I think this quilt is another example of it.