By Jennifer Bragg

W hen my grandmother died at the age of 96 in 2015， there were two things she left behind in abundance： photo albums documenting decades of travel and home life， and her quilts.1 I was living in China at the time of her death， and I couldnt come home for the funeral. Instead， I wrote a brief message that my father read on my behalf， recalling some of my fondest memories of her. She loved birdwatching and we used to write letters back and forth to each other， even when I was living abroad. I thought we always had a unique connection.

My grandmother lived alone for almost 20 years. After her death， my mother and her brother went through her home to sift through2 her belongings. Imagine what a person can collect in 96 years！ Aside from the nearly 100 photo albums， my mother found about a dozen quilts. She gave me one of them. It is a large quilt that features pinwheels， a design in which triangles of fabric are sewn together to look like a wheel.3 Those squares of pinwheels are laid between pieces of blue fabric with tiny flowers.4

Quilting is the process of stitching together fabric to make one large piece of fabric， usually in a square or rectangular shape.5 Under that is a layer of material， usually made from wool， cotton or synthetic6 material. On the bottom is another large piece of fabric that is the same size as the top. The edges of the top and bottom fabrics are sewn together to make a quilt； the filling inside adds extra padding and insulation.7

On my mothers side of the family， quilting and sewing is a tradition that has been passed down through the generations. My mother says her great-grandmother was a farm owner during the 19th century and would occasionally travel around New York State to sew clothing for families. She stayed in their homes while she was making dresses for women and suits for men， then she would go to a different home to sew for another family. Letting nothing go to waste， she used the leftover scraps8 of fabric to make quilts.

In early America， as with my great-grandmother， every piece of fabric was saved； nothing could go to waste. Women would often use those leftover fabric pieces to assemble a patchwork9 quilt， often referred to as a “crazy quilt” because there was no specific design. Later， this chaotic style gave way to the use of shapes like squares， diamonds10 and rectangles that were pieced together neatly to make a nicer-looking quilt.

Quilting is said to date back a few thousand years， possibly to ancient Egypt. But in the United States， a comparatively young country， it was a craft that started as a necessity and eventually became much more.11

In 1862， the U.S. government offered millions of acres of land to Americans who wanted to move west， in exchange for a small fee. This allowed families to settle on land that they could eventually own. This was known as homesteading， defined as a lifestyle of self-sufficiency.12 Homesteaders often built their own homes and lived off13 the vegetables in their gardens and the livestock they had. Sewing was very important for women because they were responsible for clothing their families and keeping them warm. Sometimes quilts could be rolled up and placed at the base of a door to keep a draft14 out. Or they could be used as decorative wall hangings. Back then， it was said girls learned to sew before they learned to read.

With the establishment of homesteads across the American West， quilting became an opportunity for women to socialize with each other. They would gather for so-called “quilting bees”15， where they would meet up and work on one quilting project together. This provided a much-needed reprieve16 from the isolated life of living on a large piece of land.

There are many examples of American quilts at the National Museum of American History17 in Washington DC that show the collective work of quilters. One of them is known as the“Friendship Quilt”， dating back to between 1880 and 1885. It has 25 different pieces of fabric with the same image， a schoolhouse. A group of women each contributed a piece of fabric， which were collected and laid in a pattern to make the quilt. The names of all the women who contributed are written on the quilt. Researchers later found that the oldest woman was born in 1808 and the youngest in 1866. All of them have a tie to Addison County in the state of Vermont，18 and some of them were teachers.

Throughout history， the different patterns on American quilts have revealed all kinds of information. From them， we can tell where a person lived， what region of the world they descended from （often Europe）， or sometimes a story is told in pictures on a quilt. Even today， women still gather to quilt together in a show of camaraderie19 and a mutual love for the craft， just like the old days.

Sadly， Im not sure whether my family legacy of quilting will continue. My sister has tried quilting a few times， but I have to confess that I have not. However， my sister has two daughters and maybe one day they will continue this family tradition.

1. abundance： 大量；quilt： 被子。

2. sift through： 仔細查看。

3. 這張大被子上繡著風車，三角形的布料縫合在一起，看起來就像風車的一個個轉輪。pinwheel： 風車。

4. 風車的轉輪之間由藍色的布料拼接而成，上面繡著朵朵小花。

5. 絎縫就是把布料縫合成一塊更大的布，通常是正方形或長方形。quilting： 絎縫，將兩層織物縫合在一起的一種工藝，通常在兩層織物之間填以軟而厚的物料；stitch： 縫，縫合；rectangular： 矩形，長方形。

6. synthetic： 合成的，人造的。

7. padding： 軟的填料、墊料；insulation： 隔熱材料。

8. scrap： 碎片。

9. patchwork： 由許多各種顏色或形狀的小塊織物拼縫而成的拼縫物。

10. diamond： 菱形。

11. 而在美國，一個相對年輕的國家，絎縫這種工藝一開始只是生活所需，后來卻變得愈發(fā)重要。

12. 這也就是所謂的宅地定居，一種自給自足的生活方式。homestead： 美國人舊時在政府分配的土地上居住和勞作。后文有名詞用法，即指政府分發(fā)的土地、宅地。

13. live off： 依靠……支持或供養(yǎng)。

14. draft： 穿堂風。

15. quilting bee： 大家縫聚會，美國婦女聚在一起縫被子的聯(lián)誼會。

16. reprieve： 延緩，緩解。

17. National Museum of American History： 美國國家歷史博物館，位于華盛頓特區(qū)國家廣場中段的憲法大道上，于1964年對公眾免費開放，是一座長方形的五層樓高白色大理石建筑，里面收藏了許多美國歷史上非常重要的文物。

18. Addison County： 阿迪森縣，美國佛蒙特州西部的一個縣；Vermont： 佛蒙特州，位于美國東北部新英格蘭地區(qū)。

19. camaraderie： 友誼，情誼。