the quilt

If you've never read "Pearl", a tribute post to my maternal Grandma, it lends a great introduction to this post.

When I was designing and implementing the renovations of this house, the stairway was one area that I felt must be reworked, for a few different reasons.  One was pretty obvious... it had a sloped ceiling that was originally built like a funnel.  Yes, a funnel.  It was wider at the top of the stair and head clearance decreased as you came down the stairs... to the point that I had to duck my head at the bottom of the stair.  Structurally, it was a pretty big challenge to rework the head-banging header at the bottom of the stair to maximize headroom and still adequately support the floor above.  Additionally, the only place for a closet in the bedroom above the foyer, was to extend it (with a stepped floor in the closet) out into the stairwell.  It wasn't easy, but I pulled it off.  It's still a little tighter at the bottom than I would like, and I could probably still bang my head if I were to try hard enough (maybe sprinting down the steps), but you can only do so much with the "bones" of an old house, it's tons better than it was, and the space is comfortable.  The result (hard to photograph) is this.  I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out.  I got artsy and curved the foyer ceiling into the sloped portion where the closet above juts out into the stairwell.

The short sloped section is under the closet in the room above

The artsy curve where the foyer ceiling breaks to the sloped ceiling

The second reason was not so obvious.  The home we owned before this one did not have a sloped ceiling in the stairway, and I liked the openness.  The open stairwell was the perfect place, devoid of direct sunlight, to hang an art masterpiece... if I owned a masterpiece, that is.  And... it just so happens that I do own such a masterpiece.  I specifically designed "the Gallery" with this masterpiece in mind, to the point of making sure the electrical plan included an eyeball spotlight highlighting the gallery wall.

So, what is the masterpiece that I had in mind for the Gallery?  Glad you asked... let me show you!

Mom to three, Grandma to six and (although she never met any of them) Great-Grandma to fifteen (if I counted correctly), my Grandma Pearl was a pretty simple, homespun lady.  She mostly wore dresses, nicer ones to church and "house dresses" for everyday, the majority of which she sewed herself.  With her sewing skills, Grandma was also a quilter.  As such, she decided (when I was very young) to make a handmade quilt for each of her grandkids, as an eventual wedding gift.

This was no small undertaking.  No two of these six quilts were alike, and every stitch in them is hand-stitched with love.  My Grandma has hours and hours invested in each quilt.  As she finished them, she stitched a small hand-written note in the corner of the underside, which contained the grandchild's name, her name, the quilt name, and the date finished.  She then stored them away for our future weddings.

She pretty much finished them in birth order.  Just to document how much time she invested in these quilts... I am the second oldest grandchild, and mine, the "bowtie quilt", is marked as "finished 1980"... I was twelve in 1980!

The Bowtie Quilt

The really cool thing for the grandkids is that, although she bought fabric for the "background" color, many of the other squares (the bowties, in my case) are remnants of other sewing projects... many of them the dresses she wore.  The photo below, for example, is the fabric from one of the house dresses I distinctly remember her wearing very often.  I don't think she had any way of knowing how priceless these gifts would become... priceless masterpieces!

Notice the stitching... 100% hand-stitched with love!

The tragic part of this story is that my Grandma lost a valiantly fought battle to cancer in 1985... before she had the opportunity to present any of these wedding gifts.  I was going into my senior year of high school.  She managed to complete five of the six before her death.  The sixth one was partially completed, but sadly, she just ran out of steam before she could get it completed.  My youngest cousin had to enlist the help of a surrogate quilter to honor the memory of my Grandma, by finishing what she began.

So, this morning, I placed the masterpiece in the Gallery... the spot in my home that was specifically designed to display my Grandma's quilt.  I'm pretty sure Grandma would be humbly honored to know that her handiwork is prominently displayed in the Gallery. 

Miss you, Grandma... thanks for the memories!

"The Bowtie Quilt" at home in the Gallery

"The Bowtie Quilt" under lights in the Gallery