Mellow Yellow #FashionFriday

This quilt is one of my most prized possessions.  It’s been around a long time, so I wanted to share its story with you today.

It was my Great Aunt Rose’s quilt.  I never met her, but she was Mom’s favorite aunt.  She died when Mom was in her twenties, but before then, Aunt Rose gave this quilt to Granny … Mom’s mom.

When Mom moved from her home in Cincinnati, the place she grew up, the only place she had ever known, to Michigan, Granny gave Mom the quilt.  It made that journey and helped ease Mom into her new world.

It stayed with Mom as she met Dad and they bought a house and had me.  I don’t remember having it in our first house, but I definitely remember it playing a huge role in my life for as long as we have been in our current house.

From spreading it out on the floor to play with my Beanie Babies to curling up on the couch to watch a movie, it’s always been there.  Despite the fact it isn’t new and shiny and its colors have faded a lot over the years, I love it and have no desire to replace it with something that could never match up.

However, through many washings, the interior stuffing became tangled and twisted into a mass that rendered it unusable.  I couldn’t live with that, so I carefully cut it open, removed the old stuffing, restuffed it, sewed it back together, and found it was at least good as new.  Maybe even better since I put my love into it.

I wasn’t sure I could successfully piece if back together.  As I saw it coming together, slowly but surely (there’s no sewing machine in this house), it made me so happy.  I didn’t create it, but I saved it.  I did something I didn’t think I could, and that’s something to feel good about.

This quilt is also full of lessons right now.  Lessons about what’s important in life.  About resilience.  About making it through something and coming out on the other side of it stronger.  About trying things that seem daunting or scary.  I’m not yet sure I’m capable of some of those when it comes to things other than a quilt, but I’ll try.

This quilt has been through a lot in its time and it’s still standing, a little worse for wear, but most definitely loved.

I wore all yellow to match it.  You’ve seen the dress before like a billion times.  The shoes are new, that’s how they’re in the picture.  We don’t wear shoes in the house and if recent events haven’t convinced you, maybe it’s something to think about.  I hope these shoes lead me to some fun adventures outside the house in the coming summer months.

Really, it was rather nice to get all ready, even if I literally had nowhere to go other than a walk around the neighborhood.

Dress: Draper James // Shoes: Christian Louboutin