Advent and ….Quilts?

Good "Weaver Wednesday" to all of you who have come back for more of our Family Trails. Thanksgiving was a blessing and a very special time with family. There was time to reflect on past Thanksgivings…and a wonderful opportunity to enjoy new Thanksgivings. 

And now we begin our "Waiting Time" of Advent, preparing our hearts for the coming of the Christ Child. 

Are you thinking by now…. Mariellan, why then have you posted pictures of horses and quilts? 

Okay, I agree with you. This is not exactly what one would expect the next subject to be in the first week of December. 

 But I really want to share with you a project that has been 200 years in the making! Literally!
200 hundred years! A dream of mine has been to photograph all of the quilts and counterpanes that I have that were lovingly made by Weaver women during the past 200 years. So when the leaves turned their beautiful Fall colors, daughter, Rebecca, and I packed up quilts and cameras and headed to a local farm near town that is in my daughter-in-law's family.

 I mentioned once that daughter, Rebecca, has started a photography business. She looks for any opportunity to "stretch her creative eye" and agreed to shoot for me. I hope you will enjoy her pictures of this afternoon.  Please visit her website to she her amazing photography, RebeccaWisePhotography.com They are beautiful and capture the atmosphere of Fall leaves, clear blue skies,  and freshly cut meadows.

 As we expected, the precious little Icelandic ponies became very interested in our mission. But I must say, the ponies were very respectful of these heirloom textiles. They come from a great heritage also, so I am sure they were raised to respect the heritage of others.

 Just enjoy the next few shots….

 Now here is where the project goes a step further. My mother, Nancy Harper DeWine, and I planned to one day embroider "labels" for each textile to document the pattern, the creator, and the time it was stitched. It is with great regret that I tell you that she and I never did accomplish this goal.
But as The Reverend Mother tells Maria in The Sound of Music, "When God closes a door, He opens a window." And the window that opened for me was to my cousin on my husband's side of the family, Patricia. Pip's Craft Room,(Facebook.com) as she calls her budding embroidery business, welcomed my vision of creating labels for these many textiles. It will be quite a task , but Patricia has already finished 4 labels for me. I would love to show you one of them in progress…

 I will hand-stitch this label onto the green and white patchwork quilt you can see in the above picture. I think I will dig through my vintage ribbons and trim and then frame the hemmed label once I have hand-stitched it to the back of the quilt.

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 I am so very excited to start this project. But what a busy time of year to be inspired to do this! I feel sure that I must put it away until the cold, short days of Winter. As I finish them, I will share with you the finished pieces.

By the way, a few years ago. I wrote the editors of Alabama Heritage proposing what I thought would be a very interesting article about the 5 generations of an Alabama family's hand-made textiles. (One is hand-spun and woven!) I did not even get a nibble of interest! That could be my next goal-to write it myself!

Do you have a family textile that you would like to see featured here at Family Trails? I will soon write about the individual pieces that I have because they each tell a great story. I would love to include yours also.

I hope all of you have a nice week. What great weather we are experiencing here is the South. And thank you once again for checking in with our Family Trails. 

Come, let us sing to the Lord; let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving and raise a loud shout to Him with psalms. 
                                                                                                 Psalm 95:1-2