Poetry Friday & Quilt Poems

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It’s Poetry Friday! It’s May 1! Ellen is hosting at Space City Scribes. *UPDATE* Mary Lee is hosting until Ellen gets her post up at A Year of Reading.

Earlier this year Mark and I made a whirlwind trip to Columbia, Missouri. Our mission: to clean out an 12X30 storage unit his dad had been paying on for more than 10 years. (Yes, that’s a post for another day!)

We found some interesting stuff, including two quilt tops Mark’s grandmother had pieced but never quilted. One of them is a favorite pattern of mine — Dresden Plate.

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Quilts such as this, made of repurposed feedsacks, set my curiosity on fire. Did a little girl have a dress out of this pink print? Did ladies swap scraps to give their quilts variety? I’m convinced each piece has a story to tell.

I began a longer poem, but got stuck, so I worked on a couple of concepts in shorter form. You’re welcome to pick a fabric and join in the fun — please share in the comments!

I.

That black print

from the summer she turned sixteen

and imagined she was exotic.

II.

Always yellow feedsacks

so no one would

borrow her clothes.

III.

For Brother’s shirt:

red checks

that matched his sunburned cheeks.

***

In November, I reviewed the book Footprints on the Ceiling, by Dorcas Smucker. It’s free Friday and Saturday on Amazon!

I hope May flowers are blooming in your life! Have a wonderful weekend!

Author: Keri

10 thoughts on “Poetry Friday & Quilt Poems

  1. We had both flour sack and feed sack dresses growing up sewed by mama. Surprisingly, the material was sturdy and better quality than much of what is for sale today, and the prints were beautiful which kept a woman encouraging her husband to buy enough of the same pattern until she would have enough for her wardrobe or project.

    1. I agree, Wanda, the fabric today is so THIN! The least sturdy fabric on this quilt seems to be the solid color backing. Sadly, one seam has come loose but I hope to fix it.

    1. Yes! I love your post — I wish I was thin enough for that lovely, simple dress! One of my links said 3 sacks made a dress.

      You poem is darling. I agree I’d be very tempted to use up whatever I had bought just to get the fabric ready for sewing!

  2. A storage unit for 10 years!? You should have put it on Storage Wars. 🙂

    I love quilts (though never made one) because of the stories they tell. They’re definitely family heirlooms worth preserving. Fun to read your short poems. First one is my fave. We all want to be exotic at some point. 🙂

    1. I’ve never seen the show but I can’t imagine anyone willingly going through the stuff we slogged through . . . vermin carcasses and all. I guess there is always the idea there might be treasure. For me, the quilt tops were the treasure! That, and some Noritake china he bought while in Japan in the 1950s.

  3. My mom is a quilter and has made several quilts with this pattern. I love the idea of a bits of poems to go with the bits of material in the quilt.

    sky blue
    a bit of heaven
    for my bed

    1. Nicely done, Bridget! I love blue in bedrooms. I’d love to see photos of your mom’s work sometime!

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