The Quiltmaker
Verna Manis Key
July 4, 1918 - July 29, 1993
She was a quiltmaker. For nearly any occasion she would make a quilt. When children were born, when they grew up and got married, when their children were born, she would make them quilts. She was proud of her quilts, proud of the careful stitches and the patterns and tops she chose. Her quilts do not just keep you warm by being thick and large; they keep you warm because they are part of her, the part she thought it important to be shared with us. Her quilts are full of care and attention and love just as she was. They are part of what bind the family together because you can't use them without being reminded of her and the family that was and is so important to her. And she made her quilts to be used, not to be put up and looked at. She made them to be used and reused until they used up all that they had to give, just as she was never a Mamaw that sat around in a chair waiting to be looked at, but a Mamaw that was always ready to go on a trip with the family, it didn't matter where, as long as she was with her family. She used and reused her life until it was all used up: not wasted or futile or full of regrets, just shared and given away until so much was given to us that she had none left for herself. Her life and our lives were the best and most important quilt she made, stitched and put together with all the care and attention she could give. She worked on this quilt for many years, but knew that it would never be finished, so when she thought the family was ready to take over, she gave it to them, put away her quilting needles, and decided to rest on a long trip with the other side of the family.
