Grandma's Comfort

When I was little my family and I would escape on weekends to a lake cottage in the uppermost part of Maryland.  The lake sat in the Allegheny Mountains and in the early spring and fall, it was cold.  The cottage wasn't winterized, but it did have a gas furnace that we would huddle around looking down through the floor at the pilot light, praying for heat upon arrival.  My mom brought up some old blankets from home and one of them was this sweet little quilt that my Great Grandma Baird had made. She raised 14 children and made use of all that she had.  The quilt is made of sweet little squares of flannel; plaids, flowers, stripes, argyles, kittens and other little flannel patches.  Grandma took whatever leftover sewing scraps she had and backed it with a blue and white flower flannel print.  She also pulled little strings of pink florets through every 3 inches or so.

It is the warmest and softest blanket you can imagine and you can bet that I snagged this for "my room" at the cottage.  I still have this today.  It's one of those blankets that you pull out when you are cold, sick or feeling blue and need an extra little hug.  Not only does it wrap you up in warmth, but it also wraps you up in love.  It's starting to fall apart because of the wear and tear over the years.  I might have to find some fabric of my own to patch it up with.

I never met my Great Grandma Baird, but maybe she is smiling down from heaven, happy to see something she made, wrapped around one of her own a few generations later.  Who knew those little scraps of fabric would have lent themselves to so much comfort.

I bet you have an old blanket similar to this.  Pull it out and use it.  It gives so much warmth to a room.

Hope you are warm today.

Paula