Farms and Quilting

What do farms and quilts have in common/? Odd question isn’t it and not one I normally would be considering.  A couple of unrelated events brought the thought to mind late last year.  When my husband broke his ankle, I took over his outside shores which consisted mainly of looking after our brood of chickens.  Plodding between the house and coop in rubber boots and wearing a red plaid jacket while carrying a basket for eggs is not my idea of fashionable clothing. .  My husband remarked that I looked like a farmer’s wife.  I am not sure why I didn’t look like the farmer rather than his wife but I had to agree with him. Unstylish my clothing might have been but they made a lot more sense than if I had tried to get through the mud and chicken fertilizer while wearing strappy sandals and a cute little dress (not that I have either.) However, no matter what I wear, our small flock of chickens and the occasional few turkeys don’t qualify us for the title of farmers.  Even if we ever do add the mini dairy goats and a pig, I still think we are more likely to be called ‘wanna be’s’ rather than the real thing.  Other people’s opinion aside,  we still like to give ourselves the label.

The second prompt to my question occurred when a friend asked if I would help her find some farm related fabric for a quilt she was making.  As I was doing that, I realized that farms and farming are often featured in quilts.  In addition to the usual animals and machinery, there is a host of farm related blocks. One that continues to be popular with both new and experienced quilters is Log Cabin.  When I think of that structure, I visualize a small building on land that was just cleared.  There may be just a hole for windows and the floor  packed dirt but it is home.   This versatile block is also known as  Furrows  (a plowed field), Country Lane, and Barn Raising. A successful farmer needs a Windmill, Weathervane, Churn Dash,  and Double Axehead.  He may go on a Wild Goose Chase,  use a Monkey Wrench to  fix the machinery and build a Rail Fence around the property.   A Flower Pot or two placed in a window will brighten up a kitchen and, of course, when you pick produce a Basket is needed, on hot days it is nice to sit on the porch with Grandmother’s Fan which will also help to Shoo Fly that get too close.

I don’t know of any other occupation which has so many quilts associated with it.  It makes sense when you think of the early pioneer women learning to survive in an often inhospitable environment.  Quilts kept them warm and making them brought neighbours together.  The patterns they created would reflect the life they were living.

 At a time when there wasn’t any money for adornments for the home, a carefully pieced quilt added beauty and colour to a long dark winter’s evening. Children could cuddle under a quilt when they were ill, put them over a clothes line to make a tent and sit on them while enjoying a picnic with pretend china.

What do quilts and farm’s have in common?  Everything.  The two are as intertwined as  the hand’s of young lovers.  Quilts and farms both evoke the same emotional response; the feeling of comfort, family, honest labour, simplicity.  Quilts and farms are part of North America’s heritage;  the story of two countries that grew and took their place amongst their older counterparts.

My comfortable jacket and small flock of chickens may be far from the herds and conditions of my many times great grandparents but the goal is the same.  Whether I am gathering eggs or sitting at my sewing machine, I am doing my little to provide food and comfort.  I am also continuing to carry the thread to the next generations.  Our grandchildren love to hear about Nana and Grandpa’s chickens and to sleep under the quilts they received.  We are their link to both the past and future.