My artifact for today is Quilt. I remember one of our Tejas Storytelling Festival Themes was "Quilts" and we each wore a colorful swatch next to our name tags reminding us that stories are the fabric of our lives. There are wonderful picture books that depict the importance of memories lovingly sewn into each quilt.
A CRAZY QUILT
And what is life? A crazy quilt;
Sorrow and joy, and grace and guilt,
With here and there a square of blue
For some old happiness we knew;
And so the hand of time will take
The fragments of our lives and make,
Out of life's remnants, as they fall,
A thing of beauty, after all.
By Douglas Malloch
Storytelling Activity:
1. Students can create creative crazy quilts on square, white paper (8 x 8 or 10 x 10) using any art medium such as markers, crayons, oil pastels. Each section of their quilt must present pieces of who they are. For example, favorite sport, family, favorite genre of books, favorite subject in school, favorite music, etc.
2. Bring in real quilts and the quilt maker if possible to tell the story behind the quilt made or share quilt pictures like the ones above.
3. When completed, create a class quilt by placing the squares strategically on colored butcher paper.
4. The ideas generated by each student are the fabric of stories to come!
1. Students can create creative crazy quilts on square, white paper (8 x 8 or 10 x 10) using any art medium such as markers, crayons, oil pastels. Each section of their quilt must present pieces of who they are. For example, favorite sport, family, favorite genre of books, favorite subject in school, favorite music, etc.
2. Bring in real quilts and the quilt maker if possible to tell the story behind the quilt made or share quilt pictures like the ones above.
3. When completed, create a class quilt by placing the squares strategically on colored butcher paper.
4. The ideas generated by each student are the fabric of stories to come!
Quilt Map
My grandma stitches swatches
matching patches blue and red.
She's making me a crazy quilt
to snuggle with in bed.
I help her sort the batches
into stacks of every size
I watch her sew. i watch it grow.
I can't believe my eyes.
Up and down her needle flies
turning clothes into a map.
I try to read where I have been
to flannel patterns on her lap.
A shirt I wore until it tore
is now a country, soft and new.
And jeans I ran in yesterday
have turned to seas of faded blue.
My grandma stitches snatches
of my past into a quilted land
so I can sleep with memories…
made by Grandma
all by hand.
By Amy Ludwig VanDerwater
Are there heirloom quilts in your family? Are there stories sewn into each square or swatch?
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