One of the many pleasures of working on my latest quilt Kaffe Tapestry is knowing that it will make a wonderful bed quilt. Bed quilts are also celebrated in this passage from Anne of the Island when Anne goes away to university:
“… Mrs. Lynde gave Anne a patchwork quilt and loaned her five more.
“You take them,” she said authoritatively. “They might as well be in use as packed away in that trunk in the garret for moths to gnaw.”
No moths would ever have ventured near those quilts, for they reeked of mothballs to such an extent that they had to be hung in the orchard of Patty’s Place a full fortnight before they could be endured indoors. Verily, aristocratic Spofford Avenue had rarely beheld such a display. The gruff old millionaire who lived “next door” came over and wanted to buy the gorgeous red and yellow “tulip-pattern” one which Mrs. Rachel had given Anne. He said his mother used to make quilts like that, and by Jove, he wanted one to remind him of her. Anne would not sell it, much to his disappointment, but she wrote all about it to Mrs. Lynde. That highly-gratified lady sent word back that she had one just like it to spare, so the tobacco king got his quilt after all, and insisted on having it spread on his bed, to the disgust of his fashionable wife.
Mrs. Lynde’s quilts served a very useful purpose that winter. Patty’s Place for all its many virtues, had its faults also. It was really a rather cold house; and when the frosty nights came the girls were very glad to snuggle down under Mrs. Lynde’s quilts, and hoped that the loan of them might be accounted unto her for righteousness.”
Every student should have a bed quilt to snuggle under – I made Dunedin Dreaming for my sister Delia who, like Anne of Green Gables and me, also has red hair.
Incidentally, 2008 marks the centenary of the publication of Anne of Green Gables and kindred spirits throughout the world are celebrating (see, for example, www.anne2008.com and the LM Montgomery Institute). I don’t think I would ever want to visit Anne’s home of Prince Edward Island as it would spoil the images that I created in my own mind but I do plan to go back and read the books. I last read them in 2000 around the same time that I started quilting.
Linda says
Thanks for this! I read the Anne-books long before I started quilting, but I do remember this. I will definitely read them again now!
Cheers, Linda
DebbieG says
The Anne of Green Gables series has always been one of my favorites! I read them many times long before I started quilting, but I remember this passage.
My two daughters now love them too.
Meg Owen says
The Anne books were my favourites as a child (right alongside the Australian Billabong series – I grew up on a sheep & cattle station) – Mum used to give me an Anne book for birthdays and Christmas & I would anticipate them so eagerly! I still reread them with great pleasure and probably appreciate the author herself more now.
The quilt for your sister is lovely and looks so warming.
Judy says
Brenda,
Thanks for a trip down memory lane, I still have all my original “Anne” books and as an adolescant I dreamed of having red hair. I had an Aunt with red hair and for a while I was so angry the gene had not passed to me.
Judy.