At Grandma's Knee

A wonderful surprise arrived in today's mail. I think have written earlier that I did not learn to quilt at the knees of either of my quilting grandmas, although my Aunt Stella and my mother certainly had an influence over my needle art and creative interests. The surprise is a slim vintage paperback volume titled "At Grandma's Knee: A Collection of Doll Quilts" by Joan Vibert & Joyce Whittier, 1985. There is a pink photo of a loving grandma with a smiling toddler on the cover (Joan and her Grandma), pink photos of designers Kathleen Brassfield, Linda Brannock, Joyce Whittier and Jane Braverman as small children on the back cover, first person biographies and stories about each of their grandmothers, and a delightful doll quilt design by each designer. As I had already made projects designed by Linda Brannock and Terry Thompson, it is particularly appealing to me to read their quilting Grandma stories, and also to discover that Linda's grandma's name was Stella!

Another interesting tidbit in this publication is a collection of quotations from kindergarten aged children relating the best thing about their grandmas. There are even pages for me to write the best thing about my own grandma and the things I want to remember, or for a grandchild to write the best things about me!

It would be lovely to see photos of these sweet little quilts, but the diagrams, templates, instructions, and quilting motifs are excellent, and I look forward to making my own special doll quilts from this gem of a book.