My mom's therapy

My mom is many things...a wife, mother, sister, aunt, gumbunk, gaba, grandma, artist. When I was in my hometown for spring break, I took pictures of her sewing room and of some of her quilts. She has a tiny room, but has it packed full of machines, dress form, material, thread...everything a quilter needs to do her work.

She has always been very handy with a needle and thread. She used to make leisure suits for my dad, she made clothing for us when we were growing up, mended our torn clothing, hemmed The Man's pants (since I'm a disaster with a needle and really shouldn't handle one), made clothing for the grandchildren, etc.

She took up quilting when I was pregnant. She bought a panel for The Boy's crib and hand quilted it. That was her first attempt at quilting and I still have the quilt in my linen closet. I'm hoping to pass it down some day...not any time soon, though!

She told me once that quilting is much cheaper than therapy for her. Here is a look into her 'therapy' room.



This is her sewing corner. She was teaching a friend to piece together a quilt, so the quilt hanging on the wall is her friend's that she is making for one of her grandchildren. Mom has a tablecloth hanging on the wall with the flannel part up and she puts the quilt squares up there to see it before she sews it all together.



This is her dress form. I think it was The Boy who made her put a nightie on it because it was 'naked.' :)



This is her 'Wall of Fame'. The top pictures in the circles are her children (I'm the one with the fat head...third from the left). The pictures on the bottom are all of her grand babies. (The Boy is the one in the center.)



Her quilting machine is in the basement since it takes up a ton of room. She was showing me how it worked.



This is a wall quilt that she made for one of my nieces. She made two of them...they now hang in my nieces' bedrooms. :) They were so happy with the quilts.

Now for a sampling of her artwork:






This one I especially love. It's red work that she colored with crayons and heat setted before making it into a quilt. LOVE IT!



This last quilt isn't one that my mom made. This was made by the staff at my dad's school when he was ill. Each staff member made a square and then they had it quilted. Mom told me that one day, each of us kids will share 'custody' of this quilt. I told her that I may have to 'lose' the quilt while in my custody so that I can keep it. ;) Just kidding! Maybe!



Every bed in my house has a quilt made by my mom. Every wall has a quilt to remind me of her love. Right now I'm on the couch with one of her quilts over my legs...wrapped in her love.

To Mom, quilting is therapy. To me, her quilts are love.