A Wonderful Tribute

Yesterday, I attended our needlework guild's annual meeting and luncheon. After the meeting, we were treated to a wonderful presentation by Ann Zemke from Crocus Lane Quilts. I was looking forward to an interesting "chat" but had no idea how profound and moving it would be.

Ann's grandmother, Marjorie Peterson, was an orphan train rider. She, like hundreds of thousands of other abandoned and/or orphaned children, was placed on a train hoping that there would be a family at the end of the train ride that would provide a better life. Ann told about the orphan trains and then shared her grandmother's story with us by reading excerpts from her grandmother's writings. She provided us with a glimpse into her grandmother's life with a quilt that she designed and quilted that tells her grandmother's story. I took a few pictures to share with you...

 This is Ann telling us about her grandmother; the quilt she made to tell her grandmother's story is behind her:

Here is a picture of the entire quilt (sorry, it's taken at an angle); you can see her grandmother's picture at the top:

The middle block includes her grandmother's handwriting; Ann enlarged the original and then traced it onto this block. It says "My Autobiography and Life - Marjorie Peterson":

I took a picture of this block because of the embroidery on the pillow case and the crocheted edging. My own grandmother used to crochet edging just like this on her pillowcases!

This is a doily with tatted edging - not only did Marjorie crochet, but she also knew how to tat!

And this block symbolized Marjorie's love of gardening. The blue house dress and pink apron with the chicken scratch around the bottom also reminds me of my aunts who dressed like this and wore chicken scratch embroidered aprons!

Every block of this quilt had a special meaning behind it. I'm so glad that I had the opportunity to hear Marjorie's story as told by her granddaughter Ann! Of course while listening to the story, I was thinking about how I could preserve my family's history in my stitching. I thought about the various samplers that other stitchers have completed and personalized with family information. I think we need to do more of that so that our stories and our legacies live on.

 If you'd like more information about Ann and Crocus Lane Quilts, please visit her website: Crocus Lane Quilts. Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!