Quilt themes and owners

My mother received a note from Aunt Marilyn today -- Uncle Kenneth, her husband and my father's oldest brother, died last month -- and she said she does have the quilt Nana Lord made for Kenneth, which was completed in 1972. The theme for this quilt is flowers. She said it's battered and worn but she will pass it on to my brother Matt, so I should have pictures of this at some point.

The article below mentions 10 quilts. This is what we know about the quilts and their owners so far:

Karen and Brenda, granddaughters who lived with Nana Lord, own the first two quilts. The first quilt, made in 1961, contained the names of children for whom Nana Lord babysat as well as events. The second, completed in 1964, is kind of a death quilt, marking the deaths of famous figures, including the assassination of JFK and, oh yeah, includes my parents' wedding among other happenings at the time.

Uncle Paul's quilt has a family theme, with events and groups important to his family.

Uncle Johnny's quilt had liquor and wine labels.

Bruce's quilt (that would be Dad) was made in 1972. The theme was holidays and it is currently in my possession. (Mine! Mine! Mine!)

Uncle Deanie's quilt was Spanish-themed, since he went to Spain on his honeymoon. Possibly my cousin Eric has this quilt; both Uncle Deanie and Aunt Bernie died a few years ago.

Uncle Kenneth's quilt was made in 1972 (after Dad's) with a flower theme.

Kathie's quilt has a Bicentennial theme.

Nancy's quilt has a symbol theme, with a book detailing the symbols.

Michael's quilt includes his graduation, wedding and the birth of his baby (Hi Chad!).

The article references "Sarah and Cindy" as receiving quilts, with unknown themes, according to the article. Possibly one of them was the "autograph" quilt, which the article says was of aquaintances, but I remember her collecting presidential and Declaration of Independence signatures as well. Who is Sarah? I'm guessing she's referring to Michael's wife.

There's also mention of another quilt, made for a grandson (Kevin would be my guess, since Robin didn't get one), with a "surprise theme."

This brings the quilt tally to at least 12!

A family of quilts by Ruth Lord

This is an undated article that I'm assuming is from the Ipswich Chronicle. A few years ago, my parents gave scrapbooks of family pictures and news clippings to my brother and me; this was in mine. The cutline indicates that she's holding the first quilt she made in 1961. I will refrain from my need to edit and re-write this.

Into each of the quilts that Mrs. Ruth Lord of Fellows Road has created since 1961 she waves a tapestry of contemporary events for her children and grandchildren that will evoke memories in the years to come.

Mrs. Lord said she was baby-sitting for a newly adopted child who arrived at Christmas at an Argilla Road home where a beautiful antique quilt decorated one wall. "Every time I went there I would look at that quilt with its appliques and different kinds of stitches and little embroidered things, such as a hand of cards. So I came home and I thought maybe I could make one. As I went different places to babysit I would make a square and the children's names on it."

Along with them she put her first quilt events of the year. One square has a stork embroidered on it with the lettering "Gable 1961." That is the year Clark Gable's baby was born.

Another square includes a crutch, marking the fact that her husband, the late Gordon Lord, broke his foot. There is a donkey with the initials "J.F.K." to mark the inauguration of John F. Kennedy as President. Wedding bells on the quilt are for the wedding of her brother Harold and Cindy Bowen.

Children's names of the various families for whom she baby-sat are included with their brothers and sisters on one block for each family. "These are the Sylvesters," Mrs. Lord says of one square. She is related to the Sylvesters and recently attended the wedding of their daughter, Joanne. "Dianne was murdered," she says of the local family which has moved to Maine. {Jenn's note: I can just hear the dry tone of voice in which she off-handedly shared this information} Dianne, a brilliant young nurse in California, was brutally murdered several years back in her apartment.

"Here are the Gene Robies," says Ruth, indicating another square with the names of children. "There is Erik Smith and this one is Martha Hayes. Here are Happy, Kim, Whiz and Crispy Potter. This one says Beth, Rob and Dede Brown. This one is for Brooks Jansen. Let's see, the children in this one lived on Mill Road."

One of the squares has the earth sewn on it and "John Glenn." Mrs. Lord explains: "That is for the three times he went around the world." Sewn into the quilt is a satin design sent to her by her son, Kenneth. Anther square is from a colorful necktie which has a yellow background and big red maple leaves. "I bought it for him in Boston," she says.

Among the many small squares there is one which reads: "Dad 1961." This marks the death of her father in that year.

Her second quilt was started in 1962 and completed in 1964. It contains several black squares with white lettering: "Dallas assassination 1963," "General Douglas MacArthur, 1880-1964," "Eleanor Roosevelt, 1884-1962," "Pope John, 1881-1963," "Cape Cod, April 10, 1963, Thresher, 129 men," and "Patrick Kennedy, Aug. 7-9, 1963." The square about the Kennedy baby includes the White House with the lettering "depicting death over the President's home."

One of the patches is of the state of Alaska and shows a crack across part of it, a reminder of the severe earthquake of 1964. There is a patch with Greek lettering representing the fraternity her son Bruce joined at the University of Massachusetts. {Jenn's note: Dad joined Lambda Chi Alpha, and I totally need to see this quilt.} A red-white-and-blue square reads "John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963." There is a wedding patch marking the marriage of Bruce and his wife Linda in 1964.

"Here are the Bamford kids and these are the Stanton kids down the way," says Ruth. "I put my mother on this and later put the last part, 1965, in different thread to mark when she died."

The quilt includes a square for the Vostak III in 1962, first Russian space ship, another for the 1962 blockade of Cuba, and a square which marks the 50th anniversary of the Girl Scouts in 1962. There is also one for the Telestar when it was launched in 1962 and one which marks the death of Robert Frost, 1874-1963. A reminder of the New York newspaper strike of 1963 says "114 days."

Mrs. Lord calls her quilts "crazy patchwork." Her first two were given to her grand-daughters, Karen and Brenda Lord. Her tenth quilt is made up with autographs of friends and aquaintances. The next one will be made for a grandson and will be with a surprise motif.

For her son Paul and his wife she made a quilt filled with squares about their family life, including such things as the Girl Scouts and Auxiliary Fire Department.

Mrs. Lord's son Johnny is a bartender at Maxwell's at the Andover Inn and his wife was formerly a waitress. "I made their quilt with various wine and liquor labels," she said. "I had the kids looking around the street for cans and I would go through them to find different things to copy."

Her son Dean and his wife honeymooned in Spain, and their quilt has items from their wedding trip on various squares.

And son Bruce's is a different kind of theme marking special days.

When grandson Michael Lord was married, his quilt included his graduation, the wedding and later the baby. Ruth has also given special quilts to granddaughters Sarah, Cathy and Cindy, but has more to do.

Mrs. Lord leads a life filled with activities, from being a member of the Conservation Commission of the State Grange to being an active Golden Ager and one of the hostesses in the Historial Society's Heard House. She has also helped bring up several of her grandchildren and enjoys having them live in her house.

But with her beautiful quilts, she is leaving each one something special to remember her by.

My cousin Nancy talks about her quilt

My mother sent out a package to my cousins with my original blog entry and a request for any information about Nana Lord's quilts. Here's the response from my cousin Nancy (Kathie's sister, see the post below):

Hi All,

I have been very negligent in responding about Nana's quilt. Thank you, Linda, for sending this great package.

Ok first after viewing the blog I have to say; (Sorry Kathie-but also Thank you I am not the only one with memory deficiency!) It was cousin Betty that died. Vicki, last I heard, had run off with her sister's boyfriend, leaving 2 Children, a Husband, her Mother, her Grandmother and Aunt on beautiful Walnut Drive. Jenny, now you know why we appreciate the Lord side of the family, as bossy and "know it all" as they all may be.

I have a great "Nana Lord quilt" of symbols. It is full of beautiful fabrics and lined in silk (surely it must be real silk!), very colorful. I received this when I graduated high school. I have heard the rumor it was with marriage that we received these quilts but if this were true (as I mentioned to your Dad and Mom at Kenneth's reception/collation), I would have received 2! I kept my quilt from 1978 to 1981 in a "HOPE" chest for when I married. I used it sparingly in the beginning of my marriage displaying it on a quilt-rack Dad made for me. (Also Kathie -unless my memory fails me-a pattern from Mrs. McCormick -made by her husband). But then I heard, I think from Linda, maybe Sara, that Nana wanted us to USE these quilts not to DISPLAY them. With this I brought it out to the couch and…probably best if I do not elaborate about the person who I would cover when they passed out each night...Anyway when I had Sami and Ben I used it as Jenny has talked about, when they were sick or not feeling well. It was great to bring it out and discuss what the symbols stood for. Nana gave me a booklet she had made to explain all the symbols. We would look over the quilt and guess the symbols and compare to the book. It was packed away when I moved in 1994. Brought out again when I had Elizabeth in 2000. I used it to lay her on after I saw all the vibrant and expensive "stimulation" mats for new babies at "BabiesRUs". It was, unfortunately, in another cedar chest when this discussion began. I brought it out to show my oldest 2 children to have them share their thoughts-OK I am still waiting for that. I will take some pics to send and copy my symbol book to share. I admit to being the bad granddaughter who threw her quilt in the washing machine. It is tightened in some spots and unraveled in others. What a wonderful way to connect to family, Nana Lord knew what she was doing.

Nancy

My cousin Kathie talks about Nana Lord's quilts

My father is the youngest of the Lord brothers and the last to have kids. As a result, most of my cousins are older than me, plus they mostly lived around Ipswich and Rowley, so they had a lot more contact with Nana Lord than I did. My mother passed on my email to cousins recently; here's the story of Kathie's quilt and her memories of Nana Lord's quilting.

Here's the bits and pieces that I remember -- correctly or not -- about the quilts:

Nana had finished making one for each of her sons and decided to make them for her grandchildren, starting with the oldest and moving on down. It seemed then to be important that she gift the quilts to the grand-daughters or to married grandkids only, because she didn't make one for Robin, skipping directly to Mike and Sara. I think that irritated my mother a bit and she's decided their quilt will go to Robin.

I thought all the sons' quilts were family quilts, ie anniversaries, children's birthdays, special events, but maybe not. I notice yours is holiday themed. My parent's quilt is a family quilt. I remember it also had our own special interests on it -- for example there was a square about my 4-H sewing years. I remember too that the fabric from one of my old dresses was used in the quilt.

I'd always thought she started the themes with the grandkids.

My own quilt is the bicentennial quilt from 1976.
There was a picture of Nana and the quilt, carefully posed with it spread out over her knees and onto the floor while she worked on it, in the Ipswich Chronicle. I wonder if they archived that kind of stuff. She finished it in time for the summer celebrations so it must've been on display someplace.
Oh, yes -- I remember it was at least on display in the Grange building at the Topsfield Fair that year.

So the primary reason for my quilt was the bicentennial; that it was for me was secondary. That was Nana Lord and you had to love her for it.

I sewed a strip along the back of one edge and displayed it as a wall hanging for several years when Chuck and I were first together. Very 70s that kind of thing was back then, but I still hung it up in the bedroom when we moved into our current house, taking it down probably mid 80s when I noticed the weight of it was making it rip at the top. I had it dry cleaned and store it now in a cedar chest.

I'll take some pictures of it and email them to you when our digital camera comes back from being repaired.

Some other things I remember:

The quilts were entirely handmade except for the machine stitching the back to the front. Nana prided herself on that. She always carried a square or two of her current quilt with her to work on wherever she was. She learned most of the embroidered stitches from her schooling at Essex Aggie. There are names for them. She gave me her 'file' of stitch cards that she'd made at school when she was cleaning out her apt. at the Plantation in Rowley.

She told me the story of how she started making the quilts. I'm a little vague on it but IIRC, crazy quilts from cotton clothing were of course pretty common, but she saw one once while visiting someone made of satins and velours and thought it was beautiful. She said she decided right then and there that she would make one herself and began stockpiling old clothes made of interesting fabric.

I have the last quilt Nana was working on. I don't know who it was for but there were only a couple of squares finished. It was in the jumble of things nobody wanted, still stored at my parents house.
You're welcome to it, if you'd like.

Odd, little aside that has little to do with Nana Lord's quilts. They fascinated me and she showed me how they were made. Square of muslin with the pieces tacked on, then embroidered, then the squares sewed together. I decided to make one myself. I can't remember how old I was but I'd been working on it off and on for months. I was sewing it, all the scraps dumped around me on the living room floor, watching TV with Nancy one day, when my other grandmother -- Nana Johnson -- came running into the house, sobbing that my little cousin Vicki had just died on the operating table during open heart surgery. I dropped the quilt and never picked it up again. Superstition of a young girl, I guess. Funny what comes back when you start to remember ...

I grew up listening to the uncles (and my Dad) complain and poke fun of Nana, albeit with affection, but she was an amazingly independent woman. Loved that she couldn't be bothered with housework and that she would rather be creating something -- sewing, wedding cakes, gardening. I like to think creating is the legacy she's passed on to me. I thought it was in the sewing, but I haven't opened the sewing machine in years. Instead it's the writing.

Anyhow, I keep my house dirty in her memory. :)