One never knows what an email will hold when the subject says “Appointment Request”. That particular email arrived the middle of February this year and I opened it to find three photos of an old quilt. We were intrigued.

The email was from Sheryl, the great granddaughter of Manervia, better known as Ma according to Sheryl’s Mom. Sheryl asked if she could bring the quilt in for us to look at and possibly finish for her. We set up a time and when I realized Sheryl’s mother was available to come, we were excited to meet them both as well as see the quilt.

This top pieced with both hand and machine sewing.

The quilt had held up surprisingly welI as you can see above. I learned Ma was born in 1859 and was still making quilts until at least 1950. Ma was 98 years old when she died in 1957. A few days after accepting the quilt, we received another email. This photo of Ma, below. We loved getting to put a face to her name.

Sheryl’s mother lived with Ma for a few years as a young child and hearing her tell stories about Ma was wonderful. You could tell how much she loved Ma. The best was when Sheryl showed us this small hole (see photo below). Ma was a pipe smoker and kept it in her shirt pocket. This was the result of a hot ember falling from the pipe. We love women with character! We did a little reinforcing from the back to help the quilt hold up for future enjoyment.

They decided to keep the quilting simple and chose a stipple pattern to be done in ecru thread. The quilt was backed with an eggshell cotton and a small checked fabric was used for the binding as you can see below. The intent was to finish the quilt in keeping with the era of the quilt. Most likely hand quilters would have “stitched in the ditch”, but the stipple gives a little movement and allows the blocks to catch your eye.

The other beautiful part of the story is its’ future. Sheryl’s son in Oregon is the lucky recipient of this quilt. She said he’s an old soul and will treasure it. We feel Ma would be so happy knowing one of her quilts survived so long, was finished, and will go to her great-great-grandson.

Ma would be 162 years old this Mother’s Day and her motherly love is still present in her descendants and in her handwork - you did good, Ma!! Thank you, Sheryl, for trusting us with Ma’s quilt and Happy Mother’s Day to you, your Mom, and all the ladies reading this who “mother”.

Happy Mother's Day, Ma!