Six sisters, all quilters, and one small boy. My grandmother, a Kentucky farm wife, a master Kentucky quiltmaker, was one of the six and determined to teach the smallest quilter – her son, my Uncle Rufus who was born in 2018 with Down’s Syndrome never went to school. The family home was the school, the only teaching he had, and at that time, children were either institutionalized or kept close and educated by the family. I am blessed to have the quilt blocks that were hand pieced by that little boy as he became a man, a devoted, well-known rose gardener, and a hand stitch lover. An artist in his own right.

The colour in my quilter Uncle’s quilt blocks still touches my heart and reminds me of our family links to the UK and Wales, and later, the immigrant family’s plantation in Spotsylvania, Virginia before they moved their thoroughbred horses to Kentucky. The cloth used in the quilts varied from useable cotton darks for clothing and home, to some really lovely late 1800s floral prints for dresses. Weavers and quilters, the Hord family women created the kitchen ‘wipes’, tablecloths, and bedding quilts. The sisters gifted many lovely handmade shirts and dresses for special occasions as well, with several being sought-after seamstresses.

The very special “roses” came along as a Christmas present of cotton lawn fabric that was traditionally mailed from overseas and gifted at Christmas each year. Collecting the family blocks and fabric bits included the rugged prints that became a part of their “stash” as a family cooperative of quilters. Nothing very fancy, but well-loved, they have lasted in our shared piles of blocks for over 100 years. I am blessed to have a trunk full!

I loved squaring and quilting the fine cotton lawn floral fabrics from the UK for Rufus’s hand-stitched “H” blocks and the variety of left-over fabrics from my grandmother’s stash in the  Log Cabin Blocks. Inserts added with contemporary text print with garden flower names.

I am so thankful for this opportunity and can’t wait to see how the friends in Cloth in Common share a touch of HERITAGE in their work… the posts have been wonderful!

Bethany Garner

Dimensions: 32.5w x 40h

Technique: Use of vintage Quilt blocks from the early 1900’s, quilt hand stitched by Bethany at the project finish.

Materials: Vintage cotton/linen fabrics and a small insert of contemporary print cotton with text.