GoodReads Facebook Pinterest Instagram Email
Wednesday, January 13, 2010

A Little Story (Overdue)

I was without a computer yesterday but all systems are go today!
I wanted to share a some more photos of my weekend guests.
I became associated with them through my friend Rhonda.
The story starts with Leo, who Rhonda happened to meet.
He told her about his wife who was a quilter.
Rhonda became fast friends with Leo and he invited her to come see Helen's quilts.
Rhonda ended up submitting a couple of her quilts into our local guilds' quilt show last May.
You see, Helen passed away a couple years ago.
Rhonda is now the permanent custodian of all the quilts. Some were Helen's and some were Helen's mom's quilts and also some were quilts they had worked on together.
Here is a sampling of their work.

Some were still unquilted... "works in progress".
Some were completed masterpieces.


All of them were however, pieces of their lives.


Well loved, even some a bit tattered and sometimes a little neglected.


But all are beautiful in their own right.
So, I didn't really have Helen or Glessie as house guests in a traditional way.
But very much in spirit!
But I got to have their works of art to enjoy and appreciate
for a short time.
I have more photos to share of Helen's other quilts... soon.

This was submitted with the quilts at the quilt show:
Submitted on behalf of Leo Martin

After my wife, Helen Lee, passed away I was going through some her things and found an old trunk containing several ‘old quilts’ that were Helen’s and her mother’s, Glessie Coberly. Glessie was born in 1894 and grew up in Clovis, California.
This Grandmother’s Flower Garden quilt was hand pieced and hand quilted by Glessie in 1954. My wife, Helen learned to quilt and do other needlework from her mother as a small child.
In memory of Glessie Coberly (1894-1976) and
Helen Lee Martin (1921-2008)

15 friends stopped by to chat:

Needled Mom said...

What a touching collection to be made the custodian. I am sure that Leo is pleased as well.

Sherri said...

Thanks so much for sharing the beautiful quilts and their stories! What real treasures!

Jayne Honnold said...

What a sweet story. Thank you for sharing it with your blogosphere friends. It makes me want to photograph some of the older family quilts in our family.

Quiltpiecer said...

Thank you for sharing the quilts and stories. They are true treasures.

Carol said...

Thank you so much for sharing the quilts with us...and the story is just wonderful. What treasures...I'm glad they came out of the trunk for us to see.

Sharon said...

Thank you for sharing these wonderful quilts! What a beautiful legacy to leave in this world.

Cindy said...

So beautiful, both the stories and the quilts. Thank you, Sinta.

PunkiePie (Jen) said...

Thank you for sharing! The quilts are all beautiful. What a great story to go with them too.

Nicole said...

This is what quilting is all about. I loved this post.

an encourager said...

Awwwwhhhhh. Thank you for that sweet post.

Julie said...

What a wonderful story! I'm sure Helen and her mother are looking down from heaven loving that other quilter are enjoying there quilts.

They are just beautiful!!!!

ranette said...

These are my favorite kind of quilts and I loved being able to see them...Thank you and thanks to Leo as well for not keeping these quilts in a trunk.

Sweet Cottage Dreams said...

This is such a sweet post in their honor. Thank you so much for sharing their quilts with all of us and their story.

Hugs,
becky

Vickie E said...

woohoo I finally got your blog back..when I switched to a dot com...I lost my blog list and have had to recreate it...

Jean said...

Aren't old quilts wonderful! Well loved and all! My Great Aunt Doris made some beautiful quilts... long story short she had said that I would receive some of her handy work... (not neccesarily the quilts, but some of her beautiful pillow cases etc...) well unfortunately she talked to my grandma (mom's side of the family... Aunt Doris was Dad's side of the family). For some reason during one of grandma's times of metal not all togetherness she made Aunt Doris believe that we didn't treat her very well. So, great Aunt Doris left everything to a couple of her friends and the rest to the Good Will. Soo sad... she did beautiful work. She made a couple of quilts out of old men's suit fabric samples. The hand work stitches were something to behold! Such a shame! I sure hope that someone in the SanLuis Abisbo,Calif. area are still enjoying them!