Quilts As Decor

I decided to tack the little quilt to the wall in the living room. I love to gaze at these works of art. So tacking them on the wall makes them easier to see and enjoy.

I know not a lot of bloggers decorate with quilts on the wall. Actually I don't know of any off hand. If you know of any, please let me know so I can visit them.

I know it isn't the current trend, or a nod to sophistication, decorating with quilts. 

I know it is more acceptable to see them folded at the end of a bed, and certainly they are beautiful there too.

I'll always have quilts displayed on the wall, covering tables, and folded up where I can see them. 

The small quilt you see on the wall was an eBay find a few weeks ago, as you probably remember. A $12 purchase that will give me immense joy.

I recall collecting Country Living magazines where quilts were front and center in homes and often used as decor. You don't see that nowadays.

But I really think the way one decorates should be unique to you personally. 

If something makes you smile, if it makes you happy, then display it for all to see. And especially for you to see.

Quilts were originally made to keep folks warm. Old clothing was cut up and used to make scrappy quilts.

From Quilting In America:

"The term "quilt" comes from the Latin <i>culcita</i>, meaning a stuffed sack. The word has come to have 2 meanings. It is used as noun, meaning the 3-layer stitched bed covering. It is also used as a verb, meaning the act of stitching through the 3 layers to hold them together. 

"The quilt, as we know it in America, was originally a strictly utilitarian article, born of the necessity of providing warm covers for beds. Quilts were also used as hangings for doors and windows that were not sealed well enough to keep out the cold. 

"The earliest American quilts, made by English and Dutch settlers, were so intimately connected to everyday life of the early colonists that no record of them exists."

"Those early settlers could not afford to simply discard things when they wore out; necessity required they carefully use their resources. Therefore, when blankets became worn, they were patched, combined with other blankets, or used as filler between other blankets. 

"These were not carefully constructed heirlooms, rather they were functional items for the sole purpose of keeping people warm. 

"Only in later years, when fabrics were being manufactured in America and were more affordable, freeing women from the work of making their own yarns and fabrics, did the more artistic type of quilting become more widespread."

I just love seeing old quilts in antique shops or malls. I imagine the woman who made them, quilting by whatever light she could get. 

Or sitting with a group of woman around a quilt frame, all bent over the task at hand.

Whether I created them, or someone else did and I'm lucky enough to own them, I will always honor the works of art. Because that's what they are to me.

So I suppose when you visit me here, you will always see quilts in my home, wherever that might be. And for now, that happens to be a one bedroom patio apartment in Tulsa, Oklahoma.