I’d had it for at least 20 years. It belonged to one of my grandmothers and some of the material was from flour sacks. It had been with me through 2 husbands and 3 marriages (yes, I married one of those men twice). From storage unit to shed to trunk to who knows where else I had stored it over the years. Mice and moths both had their nibbles, yet I still hung onto it. I had no particular desire to learn how to quilt or pay someone to finish it up. I had already thought it through to the end. Even if it was a finished item, it didn’t go with my decorating style at all and it would live in a bag not much different than it existed in as just a topper.
One day at work, I happened to realize that a co-worker named Heather actually did quilting. I knew instantly that I was going to give her the topper. I brought it into the office one day and left it on her desk. She came by after she had looked at it. There aren’t words to describe the joy i saw in her eyes over the topper that had haunted me for so long. It was a boon to her.
I had to swallow the bit of guilt i had for giving away a family heirloom. I never did tell my mom that its gone. I know it went to the right place and i saved it from further decay. I do hope that it is living on with someone that appreciates it and maybe even wonders who made it and occasionally thinks about a life with flour sacks.