Grandma's Double Wedding Ring

by Lisa LaLonde

Every time I would visit my Grandmother's house in southwest Virginia, I would sleep with one of her quilts safely tucked around me. Usually it was her scrap quilt, pieced by her mother out of remnants from the clothes she made Grandma when she was a little girl. But on very special occasions, I could sleep with Grandma in her big bed with her Double Wedding Ring quilt covering us both. This quilt, also made by Great-Grandma with scraps, was simply the most beautiful thing my young eyes had ever seen. Before nodding off to sleep, Grandma and I would review which scraps came from which of her childhood dresses, usually with an accompanying childhood remembrance. My dreams were full of quilts in those days. That quilt made me feel connected to my family's past, and left me with an insatiable love of quilts and a desire to learn my great-grandmother's craft.

Shortly after moving to Mexico City two years ago, I made a new friend. Sue and I discovered each other on a Newcomer's tour and I invited her over for coffee. Within minutes she was fondly handling Grandma's Double Wedding Ring quilt, now residing proudly over the back of my sofa. Because of that touch, we embarked on a new kind of friendship: that between two quilters who love their craft. The very next week she hauled me over to her apartment for a meeting of the Mexico City Quilt Guild, and I was embarked on a journey of friendship and learning that has been one of the highlights of my Mexican adventure. I met quilters of all nationalities and experience, and learned more about quilting just by watching everyone progress on their own projects than any amount of reading and studying and workshops I had taken so far. Soon I was involved in taking classes here and my excitement over the craft increased ten-fold. Suddenly I was being given the chance to develop skills that I only dreamed about. Quilting was no longer something to admire and aspire to. I too could make a quilt on par with that of my great-grandmother's.

But more important than the techniques I learned was the fact that I felt connected. Not just to a tradition and a community, but to myself. I belonged. Quilting became one of the pieces of my life that tied me to my new home here in Mexico City. And all because of a chance meeting between a new friend and Grandma's Double Wedding Ring.

Next month: More stories from the Guild, as well as tales of the girls' home we sponsor here in Mexico. The Mexico City Quilt Guild meets every Thursday at 9:30am. Please contact our American Society representatives for more information.

© February 1998 Lisa B. LaLonde Published in Amistad, the monthly publication of the American Society in Mexico City