Grandma Ruth and Granddaughter Louise - Same Family Tree
This past week my son and I went to visit some relatives
a few towns over. I hadn’t seen my
cousin in a few years and wanted to show her my crazy quilt, The Velvet Hex and
some of my hand embroidered fabric collages.
As we sat around the table show each other our latest projects – me my
stitching; my aunt Lydia her wool woven scarves; and my cousin Katie her ‘ceramic
tile’ tent she was planning.
Our grandmother Ruth visited the V&A Museum in the 1920s, and Katie was using her designs as inspiration for her tile motifs. A couple of Ruth’s sketch books were at the table, so my son and I flipped through them.
Much to my surprise, I felt I could have been looking at things I would have sketched. I had just shown my angler fish applique (which my son Walter has claimed once completed) and could not believe how similar her subject matter was to mine. As we continued – more drawings showed similarities!
The funny chicken had me laughing – I have several on my quilt. The rabbit on my quilt was seen on the crazy quilt in Hawaii, at the palace where the queen stitched it while under house arrest in the late 1800s. The little dragon-like creature was the first motif I stitched for my CQ background.
As they say, the apple doesn’t fall from the tree – in this case, so true! Almost 100 years ago my grandmother sketched things she found interesting. Today, I am stitching motifs I find amusing – and they just happen to be the same!
