Quilt #0: Our Wedding Quilt

The years don't add wisdom, but they do add perspective.

- Paul Harvey

This month I'm participating in #IGQuiltFest2022 which is a daily challenge to post about my quilting hobby/business/life on Instagram so that quilters across the world can connect and get to know one another.

For yesterday's post I shared my most beloved quilt...

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A post shared by Ashli Lerman Montgomery (@ashlim.virginiadelesmith)

The Rest of the Story

Do you remember the Spiegel catalog? 

I do!

It was always present on the shelf under the coffee table at Grandma Syble's house. I loved to flip through it while my mom and grandma talked in the living room.

I remember how classy and sophisticated I found the outfits and models and how chic and beautiful the home furnishings looked.

In the months leading up to my wedding in 1995, I was in my hometown planning the ceremony and reception quite often, and every weekend I was there, I'd stop by Grandma Syble's to visit (that's what we call sitting around talking with people we love). One weekend, I noticed that she had the Spiegel catalog set out with a sticky note hanging off a page.

Nosy as I always am, I opened the book (it was so big that it was always bound like a book rather than a store catalog) and saw that she had flagged a beautiful quilt.

"This is pretty," I commented, noting the two color ways offered. "Do you like the red or blue one better?"

"I'm glad you like it," she said, "because that's what I want to give you and Philip for your wedding gift. Which color do you want?"

"I love it!" And I truly did. "I think I like the blue version, and we can have the personalization in navy thread." I was fawning over the catalog by then, so excited by her gift.

"We aren't getting it personalized," she said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Well, it says they add it for free. We can have our names and wedding date put on it."

"No," she informed me, "I like Philip real well, but it's too nice a quilt to throw away if your marriage doesn't work out, so we'll just leave off the embroidery."

I was both humored and dumbfounded at once.

That was sooooo my grandma!

Pretty and practical at all times.

When I told Philip about the quilt and about the not-personalization, he shook his head with a chuckle.

"Well, we'll just prove her wrong and sleep under that quilt for the rest of our lives."

And we have ❤️ 

And Grandma Syble really did love Philip!

Just days before she died of Alzheimer's disease in October of 2014, she had a flash of clarity — the first time she'd spoken in weeks and weeks — when Philip walked into her room at the nursing home.

"Well," she said, grinning and batting her hands down as she had done so often throughout my life when saying hello. "Look who's here." She sounded so pleased to see him. So much like herself.

And then the moment was gone. She was lost inside herself again, and lost to us entirely four days later.

It's a moment and a memory that I absolutely treasure, and you can imagine how special that quilt is to me. My quilt before I became a quilter.

And now you know, "the rest of the story."

With love and hugs,