My Grandmother's Quilt - 50with50 No. 32 and 33 / Imperfections
Red, White, and Blue
A red, white, and blue quilt made by my grandmother is on our bed, and it is the latest entry in the 50with50 series.
My grandmother made this quilt many years ago, although I do not exactly remember when it was made. We have had it for a while, although we do not usually keep it on the bed all year long. This is our summer quilt, not because of its weight but because of its color. You might think that a summer quilt would be lighter, because not as many blankets are needed on the bed during the warm summer months.
We choose this one for our bed each summer because the patriotic color scheme goes well with other summer things. In fact, most of my clothes seem to fall into the red, white, and blue color scheme as well. Not just in the summer, either, but all year long. I guess I have something of a patriotic style. It is not necessarily a conscious choice, but those just happen to be the colors that I naturally gravitate toward. That is not entirely bad, right?
And if you are wondering, this was sewn by my maternal grandmother, while the lamp I posted earlier this year was from my paternal grandmother. We are blessed to have things in our home from all four sets of our grandparents, which is pretty cool.
On the Bed
Here is a look at the quilt on our bed, if you want to see more of an overall look at it instead of just one square. I think the colors fit well with the rest of our house. And then at night when we are asleep, I close my eyes and don’t see any colors at all. In some ways, maybe the colors don’t matter all that much.
It seems to me that sewing is starting to become a little bit of a lost art. I am glad to have this quilt and a few other things that my grandmother made. My mother has sewn quite a bit of things over the years, too. And Laura sews from time to time as well. In fact, she has spent much of her free time lately sewing homemade face masks. I am glad that she has that talent, because I certainly don’t. Items sewn commercially might be nice in some ways, but things sewn by a real person have a special quality to them.
This quilt is nowhere near perfect. If you look at the quilt for any length of time at all, you can find some imperfections. I won’t point them out to you here, but they are there. Laura sometimes points out the slight imperfections in the masks that she makes, too. But I barely notice them. We are definitely our own worst critics, and we see things that others do not see. That is normal. But don’t let that get you down too much.
Yes, this quilt has imperfections. But that is fine with me, because I know who made it, and that makes it special to me. Things do not have to be perfect to be special. And that goes for people, too, of course.
Bible Verse
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. - Ephesians 2:10
About the Photos
It may be a little hard to tell, but the first photo actually uses much of the same process as the selective-color lifeguard hut photo I shared a few weeks ago. Using the color sliders in Aurora HDR, I reduced the saturation to zero of all of the colors except for red and blue. Even though it might not be exactly obvious, I think it helps to make those colors stand out even more.
For the bed photo, I actually reduced the color saturation of the whole photo, which I do not often do. But the reds and blues were a bit strong, as was the green of our bedroom wall. While I do like bold colors, I liked the desaturated look for this photo.
And as always for photos in the 50with50 series, these were taken with a 50mm prime lens. I knew I wanted that tight depth of field look for the close-up photo, and the prime lens definitely delivered.
Photo: Each photo is a single Raw exposure, processed in Aurora HDR. Read more about photography tips, photo software, camera gear, and more at Steve’s Photography Tips.
Camera: Sony Alpha A7 II
Lens: SonyFE 50mm f/1.8
Date: July 23, 2020
Location: Home, Williston, Tennessee
