It has been a hobby of mine for some time to crochet around flannel baby blankets. I like it because it's a "mindless" craft you can do while watching TV or visiting with people or riding in the car, and I like always having a baby gift ready to give. It's creative and the blankets are soft and cuddly and colorful and pretty.
But this little hobby took on deeper meaning for me a few years ago after a visit to my Grandma Carlsen's home in Pocatello. Ever since I can remember whenever I have visited Grandma she has taken me through her home and shown me the projects she has been working on. Sometimes it was genealogy, or knitted hangers, but always there were the blankets. She would have closets full of quilts that she had made, or was going to make. She would lovingly pull them out to show me the entire pattern and tell me about why she chose the colors and who she was planning to give them to and then neatly fold them away again.
One year she asked me if I knew why she loved to make and give away quilts and blankets. It was then I learned that when she gave birth to her seven children, she never had a new blanket to wrap them in. They were poor Idaho farmers and a new baby blanket was a luxury they couldn't afford. (My mother told me she could only remember sleeping on patched sheets and using threadbare towels - which is why she has become the wonderful sheet and towel snob she is today - but that is another story) Tears came to my eyes as I thought of having a new baby without a special blanket to wrap around your newborn. Grandma told me that was why she made quilts for all her grandchildren as they married and for all of her great-grandchildren when they were born.
My Grandma passed away in 2000. I miss her, but I am grateful for the legacy she left me of making blankets. And I'm grateful for the quilts that she made for me. Two are pictured here, the twin sized patchwork corduroy quilt she made when I was just a toddler. It was made out of scraps from skirts my Mom wore. When I was growing up it was the "sick quilt;" if you were sick enough to lay on the couch all day, you got to be wrapped in the sick quilt. It was such a soft and comfy quilt, you almost wanted to be sick! The blue baby quilt with little bunnies on it and a soft flannel back is the one she gave me when Mary was born and I didn't really use it much, because by then I realized what a treasure Grandma's quilts were and I didn't want to wear it out.
She also made me a tied quilt for my wedding. It currently resides in Jenny's trunk - you never know when you might need a picnic quilt or it might get really cold in Logan! On one side it is plaid, blue and lavender, and the other side is solid lavender - which my Grandma called "orchid." I always thought it was funny/cute how she had different names for colors than I was used to.
The yellow baby quilt she made for Laura was completely used up, but lovingly so. It was yellow and one side was really soft and the other was tricot with a lining over it.
And so, I will continue to crochet baby blankets and maybe someday, when I'm old enough, I'll make quilts. And I will always think of my Grandma who didn't have blankets for her own babies, but made sure that her posterity did.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Blankets and a Legacy
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8 comments:
Thanks for recording that, Mom. I don't remember my blanket. Is it in any pictures?
And nice photography skills!
Love the story, what a great grandma you had. I also have loved the blankets I've received from you for my babies. They were always a little bigger than others, and that was important for such big babies!
Laura, I looked and couldn't find a picture with your blanket from Grandma. I guess it will just have to live in my memory. Sorry!
Thank you Janet for sharing this story and pictures. The interesting things we learn from blogs. I'm glad you had a good relationship with and fond memories of Grandma Carlsen, aka Annie Sophie Larson Carlsen.
That is a neat story. I have loved the blankets and burp clothes you have made for my girls!
Janet,
Thanks for those stories.
First - I didn't know that was why Grandma was always working on quilts and always wanted to show them off. Cool.
Second - You've got the 'sick blanket' - I knew Mom always loved you best!
I loved this post. You did a great job and the pictures look very artsy fartsy. I enjoyed learning more about Great Grandma Carlsen and you through that post.
Thank you Janet for that nicely worded post about my mother. You got things out of her I never could. I didn't know she could crochet, knit, or quilt until I had three children of my own. It was years later that I knew she could 'tat'. All she ever told me was that she never had time to do that when I was home. She gave me lovely quilts for my children. Like you, they were well loved and worn out. I think Laura still has hers because I didn't use it as much. Someone else gave her one that I used so I could save my Mother's quilt when she got older. I don't know why Keith thinks I love you best because of the 'sick quilt'.
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