Grandmas and Quilts!

I love to create things - especially sewing! My latest creation is a quilt for our newest grandson - Brigham James Wilde!

 

Amy told me what colors she liked and what she wanted his new little room to look like - and this is what I came up with (thanks to a pattern and great instructions that I found online).  After it was all done, I started thinking that I hope  Brigham knows how much I love him everytime he sees or holds or cuddles this quilt.  Being a grandma is a pretty cool thing.  Most of the time I don't really think of myself as a 'Grandma' - I'm just Amy's mom and she happens to have three adorable children!  Because if I stop and think about it too long, it seems like an impossible and overwhelming responsibility.  My mom is the most fantastic Grandma - all of the grandchildren know they are loved and she does special things for all of them, all of the time! She knows what they are doing and interested in, she is concerned and caring and somehow keeps track of  all 24!  She has made endless baby quilts and blankets and now quilts for the all the grandchildren when they get married! 
Then there is my sweet Grandma Jensen - I didn't appreciate her near enough when she was alive.  I don't remember how old I was, but my Grandma Jensen made me this quilt - and I DO think of her everytime I see or hold or cuddle this quilt. 

It is worn right through in some places and I remember it being the softest and warmest blanket I had ever felt when she gave it to me.  I took it to girls camps, I took it to college with me, it came with me when I got married and every place we have lived.  When I started to write this entry, I knew right where to find it in the closet in the hallway to take a picture of it.  My Grandma's sweetheart and husband passed away very young and left her a widow with 5 small children.  I think I remember my dad saying that she stood outside her little home with 5 children clinging to her apron calling for Daddy, saying goodbye to her husband as he went off to the hospital never to return again. She worked to support them and struggled and was very poor for many years.  She had an impression during a church meeting that she was to marry Einar Jensen, the bishop at the time with a large family of his own.  She raised those two families with unconditional love and patience and I am sure a lot of hurt and struggle and adjusting along the way.  When I came into the scene, all I knew was that she was petite, quiet, sweet, tender, determined and lived in a cute, very tidy little house on a farm where we loved to visit - I never questioned why we called her Grandma Jensen and not Grandma Anderson and why we shared her with so many other families.  I never knew she was too scared to live alone after Grandpa died and that my mom and dad eagerly opened up our home for her to come and live with us.  I have a vivid memory of being sick one night and was coughing and coughing, Grandma was sleeping in the room right next to mine, I rolled over and there she was standing right over my bed and quietly whispered that she had brought a cough drop for me.  I will also never forget the night I got home from the hospital with our new baby Brooke, we were coming to my parents to spend a few days and Grandma Jensen was in the hospital in Taber.  It was Saturday night and we decided to go in and show her the baby, Brooke was wide awake and they both just stared into each others eyes for the longest time.  The next morning we got a call that Grandma had passed away in the night - I will forever be thankful that we went to visit her that night.
So I guess Grandmas and quilts just go together - and I will try to continue that legacy of love to my grandchildren, not only by the soft blankets I make for them, but by the way I make them feel when they are with me!