Thursday, July 12, 2007

Inherited Beauty

spool bed & special quilt

(This post was inspired by Beki)

Last winter we inherited 3 beautiful pieces of furniture made of cherry wood--2 spool beds and a dresser with a huge mirror! They were given to us by my mother-in-law's 2nd cousin, Cheryl. She had no use for them and thought of our two girls when she decided it was time to let go of them. These 2 beds and the dresser were purchased by Cheryl's grandparents so that she and her sister would have their own comfy beds when they came to Colorado to spend the summers with Gma & Gpa. Boy, are we lucky to have received such a beautiful gift! They are so well made and perfect for my taste! The girls love that the beds are so high off the ground. They can often be found hiding under them. They can also be found jumping on them too. The house rule is "no jumping on any bed!", but every so often I let them get away with it. Gotta have some fun around here!

A special story about the beautiful pink quilt-
quilt

This pink quilt was a gift to my mother-in-law, Linda, for her 18th birthday from her grandmother. This is another piece that we just inherited but only out of sad circumstances. Sadly, my wonderful mother-in-law passed away very suddenly in late April. What a model of strength and full acceptance she was for us. I know that I will strive to live my life following her beautiful example of LOVE. Our faith in God helps to ease the pain, but it still hurts. Linda, we love you and we miss you!

As we were cleaning her apartment, we came across a large box with this beautiful pink quilt carefully folded and protected inside. The box was labeled with this message:

"Pieced and Quilted by Grandmother Beaman and given to her granddaughter on her 18th birthday April 29 1965."

Linda had never mentioned anything about this quilt and so it was such a treasure to find! I, of course, fell in love with it. I pulled it out of the box and carefully examined it. Yep, it was all hand pieced, hand sewn and hand quilted! Wow! With all of the machine sewing that I do I just could not imagine the time and SKILL it must have taken to make this beautiful piece. I was also thrilled with so much fabric beauty! Each hexagon is a small gem of vintage fabric. I asked my husband and his brother if we could keep it. They agreed it could come to our home and I knew exactly what I would be doing with it!

After inheriting our spool beds a few months ago I decided it was time to give quilting a try. I figured that this was the best time for me to make a quilt since Julia's bed was "naked". Her bed was missing a quilt and/or comforter. Well, needless to say, I never got started on her quilt but I guess there was a very good reason for that, huh!? I believe in using and displaying antiques and valuables because they should be seen and enjoyed, with care, of course! So I knew that Linda's quilt would be used to cover Julia's bed! (Julia has learned that we have to take good care of the quilt and that means no sitting or sleeping on the quilt. She always asks for help to move her "special, special quilt".) I also know that Linda is smiling in heaven because her special quilt is being enjoyed by all of us. I'm happy that this quilt will be a constant reminder of a very special woman who filled our lives and hearts with so much love!

3 comments:

beki said...

Wow, the beds are beautiful! And that quilt, what a treasure!! You're so fortunate to have those things :)

Mary-Frances said...

Oh, honey! The rooms are beautiful and the quilts are lovely! I'm sure the girls will treasure the room!

Anonymous said...

Wow, what a gorgeous and special quilt. That is definitely a family treasure. So sorry about your MIL. :(