Bicentennial Quilt, Twenty-six Years in the Making

I'm thinking it's no surprise that any woman taking twenty-six years to embroider a quilt is hooked up with a man who took sixteen years to build a house.

I bought the patriotic quilt kit at the PX in Fort Benning, Georgia the summer of 1974, plenty of time to get it embroidered by our country's bicentennial. I listened to Sweet Home Alabama and The Air That I Breathe (Lynard Skynard and The Hollies) as I watched Leslie and Matt's swimming lessons and cross-stitched like a fiend. I took the embroidery project along to work on while we waited to watch David jump off the airborne school towers, then out of an airplane. The three achieved their summer goals; not I. Much of the quilt was unfinished.

In September David went on to Korea unaccompanied, leaving me wondering how fate could be so cruel. This was his third unaccompanied tour in eight years. Then, much to our surprise he was able to change his assignment to accompanied and we were on our way. Yes, I brought the quilt top.

Korean language and culture classes, social responsibilities and managing our move kept me busy. Answered prayers, not one but two adopted infant daughters, soon filled my nights and days. Somehow, the quilt project was stowed safely away for eight years. It missed the bicentennial.

This time all four children helped with the stitching--a couple of them wanted to contribute only enough to truthfully say they were part of the project. I won't name names as to who those two slackers were but Leslie and N.C., I couldn't have done it without you.

Life got really busy when I returned to university and began a teaching career. Somehow, that quilt didn't surface for another ten years or so. This time when our little girls helped with the sewing they were on break from college!

We finished the embroidery. In order to keep the quilt entirely handmade, I sewed the panels together by hand. At this point, the quilt had so many memories that it was hand carried to and from my mother's quilting frames. I have no recollection of the time required for her to do the quilting; but, as always, my mom did a superb job.

The Congress Community Quilt show displays quilts made by groups and this one certainly qualified in that regard. We won first place!

Independence Day celebration has very high priority at Badboulder. The patriotic quilt comes out and someone always wraps up in it. If the usual Fourth of July monsoon rain doesn't hit to cool us down, we crank up the air conditioner enough to justify using the quilt for a few minutes.

David recalls the horror his grandmother experienced upon seeing one of her handmade quilts being used as a ground cover--protecting her grandson (not David, he 's a bit more sensitive) as he changed the oil on his '57 Ford. Who knows what our grands may do with the patriotic quilt, but if it involves changing oil, I don't want to know.

Let freedom ring!

FROM THE KNOTHOLE: Okay, let's get one thing straight. This quilt did not win first place in a quilt contest in the United States Congress. That Badboulderlady is sometimes rather squirrelly, and she might like for you to believe that her patriotic quilt has been the recipient of high honors from the US Congress. I mean, that's a great story. And, true, the quilt has flown over some rather important places, like the Pacific Ocean, Japan, Kimpo Airport, Wake Island. But the truth is that the quilt contest was in Congress, AZ, a little desert town in the middle of nowhere, where a few hale and hardy cowboys and cowgirls call home. But, if I were to suggest where you would find greater allegiance to motherhood, apple pie, Old Glory, and even patriotic quilts, the US Congress or Congress, AZ, I think I would lean decidedly toward the latter. And, what will the grands do with the patriotic quilt? I hope it continues to a part of family 4th of July celebrations. Let freedom ring!

a parting shot from bbman: eternal vigilance is the price of freedom. there doesn't seem to be a clear consensus of the origin of these words, but they are still meaningful and still used today