Quilting is a traditional art. Passed down from one generation to the next, the artists share their skills and patterns and creativity. Quilts are first utilitarian, serving the important task of wrapping our loved ones in a warm cocoon on a chilly night. Yet beyond the usefulness of a quilt are the intangible memories and stories sewn into each one. The fabric for a quilt tradionally comes from a piece of clothing repurposed. Quilters collect the scraps and colors. Then they thoughtfully cut and sew to create a work of art that is beautiful, with a history of family and love. Those quilts live long beyond the creator, passed down to children and grandchildren. As the quilt covers the person, stories are told of lives lived before. Histories of families' and hopes and beliefs are sewn into quilts to be carried into the future.

This quilt is from Gees Bend, Alabama. Created by a group of women and their ancestors. Throughout the post-bellum years and into the 20th century, Gee's Bend women made hundreds of quilts to keep themselves and their children warm in unheated shacks that lacked running water, telephones and electricity. Passed down to the next generations, the distinctive style of the quilts are recognized today as priceless treasures.

Psalm 78:4-7
  we will tell the next generation
the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord,
    his power, and the wonders he has done.
5 He decreed statutes for Jacob
    and established the law in Israel,
which he commanded our ancestors
    to teach their children,
6 so the next generation would know them,
    even the children yet to be born,
    and they in turn would tell their children.
7 Then they would put their trust in God