Journal Notes

I had amassed a huge amount of scraps in red, white and blue, and at about age 14, my youngest son was talking about joining the Marines. As the youngest of six boys, making a quilt for him was a while off since I still had two quilts to make for his older brothers first. But I began making sawtooth stars - some red and white, some blue and white. I just kept making them for weeks in my spare time. Soon, I assembled a twin sized quilt to look like a flag and put gold sawtooth stars in the corners of the borders with plans to embroider them with the names and ranks of his Great Uncle, Stanley Richard Smith, Major, and Grandpa, Phillip Ray Smith, Captain, who were both Marines. I realized, even though it wasn’t his turn, this would be the perfect quilt for him. I started hand quilting the layers together while we sat together in the family room in the evenings, keeping it a secret that the quilt was for him. Hand quilting is slow work and I needed a break. I sat down at my sewing machine and started sewing all the extra blue sawtooth stars I had made. Pretty soon, I had a second quilt top - the one here. And then, my son saw it and asked, “Who is this one for, mom? Could I have it?” So, I told him my secret… and he still preferred the blue and white quilt. “Even if I just tie it?” “Yes, ma’am.” Actually, I think Grandpa Smith would have chosen this one over the first, too.