Family Quilts

Both of my grandmothers were quilters. For years- easily twenty years- they met every Tuesday with a group of ladies from their church (Christ United Methodist on Lorain Road at West 138th Street) to work on a quilt. Usually they were projects for other church members. The quilters charged very little for the work and all of the proceeds, of course, went right back into the collection plate. The Grandmas were funny about that Tuesday group- none of the other women worked fast enough, or at a high enough standard for either of them. "All they want to do is talk!" they'd say.

Naturally, the Grandmas quilted on their own time as well. Grandma Hoffman stitched lovely, ornate applique floral patterns. Grandma Claspy, always much more frugal, used up scraps from her "regular" sewing projects. But her eye for colors and patterns was uncanny, and some of these patch quilts are true delights. My sisters and I each have several of these, plus the "big kid" quilts Grandma Claspy made for our children, timed to arrive when they moved from crib to bed.

The Grandmas are gone now. Grandma Hoffman died in 1997, 94 years old. Grandma Claspy wasn't going to get the short end of *any* stick, and as such lived 102 years, when she died in the fall of 2006.

So where will the quilts come from now? The answer: Aunt Jane. Here's Sam on the quilt she made for him.