The Memory Quilt

                                The Memory Quilt

     Shortly after Curtis died I was boxing up his clothes and trying to get things squared away.  As I was going through his things there were memories associated with the different clothes...because Curt was so small it was very difficult to find clothes that fit well...so I had sewed a lot of them to fit him. He didn't like buying "boys" clothes and I don't think he ever in his life weighed over 120 lbs even though he had "130" on his drivers license!  So I decided to preserve some of these memories by making a "memory quilt"

      One of the first pieces I cut up was from the matching shirts I made for our family for the county fair. Curt's cowboy shirt was getting pretty faded so I just pulled out the material scraps and made some little blocks from the "like new" material. I also found the teal poka-dot material from Katie's "twirly dress" and the little blue gingham from Camilles baby dress.  I took the "designer" pockets from the levi's that I had sewed for Curtis and put them on to a denium scrap. I had made several pair of levi's for Curtis and he said he needed some new ones..so I made these up and tried to get a little fancy with the stitching and designs on the pocket. One pocket said "Curtis" in little letters in between the stitching on the top of the pocket. The other pocket said "Hatch".  I didn't point this out to him and when he got home from work the next day he said "Why didn't you tell me you put my name on my pockets?" 

       There was a red patch from the little jumper that I had sewed for Eva and a cute cotton print from Mona's shorts. Soon I had pieces from the maternity clothes, oh the memories they held made me laugh.

       The sewing factory up in Tremonton had sold great big bags of quilted polyester material and I had got some for me and some for my mom...we made sleeping bags out of some of the scraps and I made some bright orange "hunting" vests out of some others.  The boys said those sleeping bags "slipped away" in the night and were only good for sleeping out on the trampoline! 
      The extension service used to have classes you could sign up for running about $25. (you can only do the college credit ones now and they are a lot more pricey!) I loved to learn new things and signed up for the quilting one and for the machine embroidery class at the same time. During the class I made a scarecrow on levi material that turned out real fun...but the scrap was too small to sew into something so I made another and made it into a vest for Jared the year he started kindergarten. It had a fleece lining so was very warm and he loved to wear it. One night, close to eleven p.m. He informed me that it was a costume parade at school the next day! After the kids were all tucked in I was trying to figure out a Halloween costume. I grabbed a pair of Travis's levi's (He was two and a half at the time) and one of his red plaid flannel shirts. Then I walked down to the farm and grabbed some straw and sewed it around the cuffs of the shirt and around the hem of the pants. Added the scarecrow vest to the outfit and sewed some straw onto a strip of cloth that I figured could be tied in the back of Jareds head then rounded up a old straw hat that I sewed a stuffed crow onto the brim (one of the kids toys from the toy box and viola! A costume was done before midnight!  He actually won the best costume award!  I put the "practice" scarecrow into the memory quilt along with the "practice" owl down in the other corner.

     After all the patches were in place I "quilted" the memory quilt on the sewing machine. I never was very good at making little quilting stitches like mom. After it was all finished the kids were so excited to check out and point out their blocks and fabrics. It was fun listening to their memories!

      I found myself sitting in my glider/rocker many a night, sometimes holding a child, sometimes telling a story, sometimes just looking out the big picture glass window watching the moon and stars, but nearly always wrapped up in my quilt and comforted by the memories it held. It was a cozy warm feeling to sunggle in the memories.

     The memory quilt is just a memory now. A victim to a terrible catastrophe called a backed up septic tank and flooded basement.  I actually backed up our green four wheel drive truck (Travis named our Ford truck "Henry Ford Hatch" when he was just three and the truck was new) Ever after to be known fondly as "Henry".  I took the large basement window out... backed Henry up across the lawn and in front of that window and then proceeded to load up the carpet,  and anything that had gotten "wet" into the back of the truck. It was a right stinky job and that's when I found out how well "Odor Ban" works. Amazing stuff. But I didn't even try it on the sheets and bedding that had been contaminated.  This included my amazing memory quilt. It went into Henry with everything else to be hauled off to the County Landfill. Another memory that was history.  I just couldn't bring myself to even think of wrapping up in sewer water....even if it washed away...the memory wouldn't. That's the thing with memories. They are hard to forget! The memory quilt was my memory...filled with fabrics that I carefully pieced together.  If I still had it, there is a chance that the kids would remember...but likely those pieces of material are long forgotten now...just like the quilt....but I do have some pictures of some of the things that I sewed...so maybe some of the memories are preserved!