1991 Baby Blanket...................... by Diane Ogden

In the year 1991, sounds like the song......"In the year 2525, If Man is still alive." And so the song goes.  Back to 1991when we were alive and younger and when I cut up about fifteen of my daughters infant and toddler outfits and created a baby quilt for her.  Not a baby quilt like the fancy quilters do in this decade.  Nope, just plain old squares of comforted memories  sewn together into a patchwork quilt that she slept with for twenty two years.

 

A couple of years ago she moved in with me during one of her transition periods in life.  That is when I noticed the "blankie quilt"  was dying a slow and ragged death.   I happened to have a neighbor who was a quilter.  (I didn't really know the depth of that word until later)  I asked my neighbor if she would MEND the blankie quilt as it was fraying.  I wanted her to top stitch it like they do finished quilts.  I believed that would preserve it and stop the disintegration process.  She took it home.  She did not stitch it.  Nope.  She tore the back off.  Took a few of the patches off (OMG), brought it back in smithereens  (and old term for a mess) and told me she didn't have time to fix it.  OMG again.  When my daughter found it she cried giant L.E. Phant tears.  That was about two years ago.  You might have guessed I haven't found time to fix it either.  Well last weekend a creative bug snuck into my apartment and hollered my name next to the word blankie quilt.  So I pulled it out of the antique wardrobe along with my shoebox of sewing supplies and pinned it back together. Next I climbed up into the spare room closet and took down the sewing machine from the top rack.  Blew the dust off her and set to stitching.  Turned out pretty good so far.  I still have to re-embroider the center square that read:  "1991,   For Lindsay,    Love Mother."   Can you believe the quilter neighbor lady threw the old one away.  It was legible, merely needed a new backing to secure it.

The clothes Lindsay wore were hand-me-downs from her cousin Erin, and from an aunts children.  There are pajama's, corduroy bibs, sweatshirt emblems, shirt pieces, and so on.

 Here are a few pictures I took of the process.  It still needs the embroidered center piece and the backing.  Maybe it will be her 25th birthday present.