I love old things, color, patterns, and textiles.  No surprise then that I enjoy collecting old quilts-my favorites being crazy quilts.

Crazy quilts respresent life to me in all its random, quirky, odd beauty with much heart thrown in!  I like to think on the woman who breathed life into the quilt as she constructed it from bits of old clothing-perhaps her man's threadbare shirt, her daughter's outgrown castoff dress, a toddler's blanket.  Each remnant that is woven into the quilt is born anew, a life recycled, memories preserved in the textile's patterns, initials of loved ones embroidered with love on a carefully crafted square.

One of the quilts that I absolutely treasure is a 'friendship quilt'-crafted with loving hands of women friends, each working their special squares with embellishments unique to their own lives, mingled with swatches of her companions' lives.  I can imagine the women sharing stories, laughing, perhaps singing, sharing their hopes, their joys, their bittersweet memories as well as the happy ones.  Their handiwork results not only in a masterfully crafted quilt, signed and dated by each friend, but adds to the creation of shared memories between friends and a memory capsule of sorts to be enjoyed for generations.