Are You Preparing to Make a Memory Quilt for Your High School Graduate?
The social media announcement that two of your “friends” have a birthday today made you smile. It is not uncommon, of course, that you have social media friends who share a birthday. In fact, there are many days when your newsfeed and notifications have shown that there are as many as four, five, and six friends who share the same birthday. This pairing, however, is kind of sweet.
One of the birthday people is a friend from your childhood. You went to elementary school together, you were in Girl Scouts together, and your mothers were good friends. You recently ran into this friend and reconnected. Through conversation, she reminded you of the light green uniforms with dark green sashes that you wore to school on the day of troop meetings. She reminded of you about the time your two mothers were the troop leaders for a camping trip when streaking was all the craze. That conversation was fun and took you back to a time when you were carefree, young, and oh so innocent.
The other birthday person is the mother of your oder daughter’s good friends. You have not seen this birthday person in years, and likely never will. They have moved across the country for a job. Her daughter and your daughter, however, keep in close contact. Through social media they know of each other’s college achievements, boyfriends, and vacations. One of the physical items that keeps these two girls connected is a custom memory quilt. You and your daughter used a number of red, white, and blue gymnastics shirts and crafted a custom t-shirt quilt that is still used today. The quilt has been to college and to vacations.
Although you also had a strong connection with your Girl Scout friend, your daughter and her friend stay connected through social media and laugh about the times when the only things you wore were gymnastics t-shirts and matching outfits. The girls still have those memories, and some of them are physical memories sewn together in a custom memory quilt that was sewn with love and patience. You wish that you had the same kind of physical reminder, but you do not. Decades ago, people did not keep old t-shirts and sew them into a physical memory piece that would last for years.
Memory Quilt Patterns Can Help You Sew Any Kind of Textile Into a Fabulous Piece of History
Whether you wan to create pink and frilly handmade quilts for your granddaughters to help them remember their days on a dance team or you want to find a custom quilt design that will help you create a fun blanket for your son to take to his college dorm, there are many kinds of patterns that can help you achieve your goal. Some people even save favorite dress shirts, woolen suit jackets, and ties to create bereavement quilts for a lost family member. The fact of the matter is there are many times when you can do the work yourself or hire someone to create a custom memory quilt from a wide range of t-shirts, other kinds of clothing, and various textiles.
Memory quilts, in combination with various other kinds of quilts combine to create a $3.7 billion industry, according to a 2014 study in the U.S. In fact, the same 2014 study indicated that more than 21 million people quilt. If you are looking for a great way to make sure that you help your friends and families remember their favorite memories, from Girl Scouts to gymnastics and everything in between.
