When my mother-in-love passed away eight years ago, we spent some time with my father-in-law, helping go through her things. Even though we feel we lost her way too early, she had a lifetime of clothes, craft supplies, Bible class curriculum, and dishes built up. I saved back a few pieces of jewelry, some of her craft items I thought we might want to use later, and some of her Bible class stuff. I also inherited several pairs of her shoes.
But then we discovered an unfinished quilt top.

Maybe this wouldn’t be weird in your family. But it in ours, it is. You see, while my mother-in-law knew how to sew, she didn’t do it much. And she definitely didn’t quilt.
This top was hand-sewn, each horse hand-appliqued. The fabric was faded, but you could tell someone had spent a lot of time creating the piece.
No one in the family knew where it had come from. Our best bet is that maybe her parents had picked it up one time while antiquing and never done anything with it. Then, when they passed away, it ended up in her things. And now, it was in mine. Because I couldn’t just get rid of something that had obviously been so special to someone, even if I didn’t know who that someone was. I come from a long line of quilters, after all.
A few of the pieces had been stitched in the wrong direction, but that was easy enough to fix. Still, I didn’t get around to actually quilting it. It sat in a pile of unfinished projects in my room for years. Then, my mom mentioned that the local quilt shop where she lived would quilt a top for a very reasonable price. I let her take it and have it finished.
Just like that, a piece of history was refreshed and usable. My son had an extra quilt for his bed. We may never know who originally made this quilt top. But now the cover is woven into our family story and given years of use.
Have you ever taken something old and given it new life? Ever discovered an old object among your family’s belongings and wondered where it came from? Got any quilt stories?