Aunt Esther's Quilt

I have had this quilt since I was a teenager. I don't know how or why I happened to be the lucky person to end up with it.

It hasn't been on a bed in years; these days, it pretty much is kept stored away.

For all that it's probably 70 or 80 years old, it's in pretty good shape. The colors are still pretty vibrant — not noticeably faded at all.

When I compare the fabrics in this quilt to the '30s reproduction fabrics I see in the shops, I like the ones in this quilt much more. The color palette is so much more varied; the reproduction fabrics often appear to be more limited in the number of colors in any given print, if not monochromatic. There's just so much more variety and visual interest in genuine '30s prints.

This quilt was made by a younger sister of my paternal grandmother. Esther never married, never had children. I know my family visited her on our trips back to Iowa to visit my dad's side of the family. She lived in a nursing home, and she had bad arthritis in her hands. I remember how her fingers angled to the side. She was a very nice, sweet lady.

She lived a quiet, unassuming life. But as long as this quilt is around, people will know that she once lived.