Bed Quilt

My husband and I took a trip to the Smoky mountains area. We had never been to this area before and we found that we enjoyed the people, scenery, food and the many antique and gift shops. There was one place that we stopped that had a number of local arts and crafts set up for sale. There was one booth that had several quilted items. She had quilted wall hangings, vests, spreads and lap blankets. One bed quilt had beautiful colors that would match our bedroom beautifully. I told my husband that I wanted the bed quilt. He thought that this was a strange thing to buy as a souvenir on a trip. I told him that the bed quilt was beautifully made and that it would last for many years.

The quilt was displayed from a hook on the ceiling. I asked the sales person if she knew what size the bed quilt was. She said that she was sure they had it in all sizes and inquired which size I wanted. I asked if the quilts were hand made and she stated that some of them were but the one that I had picked out was made in a factory. I thanked the clerk for her time and started towards the door. My husband did not understand why I did not want the bed quilt. Only minutes before I was claiming that it was the perfect fit for our room and now I did not want it. I told him that I thought that it was hand made from the area and that this would have made it perfect. If it came from a factory I could most likely find it at a store at home. The clerk over heard our conversation and explained that the factory that made the bed quilt was local. The quilts were still hand quilted by local women, however the cutting and measuring was done in a factory. Also many of the women have little or no electrical power in their homes so the factory setting lets them see their work better and for longer periods of time. She stated that we could tour the factory if we wanted.

We decided to drive the seven miles to the factory. There were many sewing machines and long tables of fabric in the rooms. The fabric pieces were being cut out by machines. The pieces of fabric were being sewn together by some women. There were two other rooms set up for hand quilting on large quilt stands. There were four quilt stands and each stand had five to seven women quilting. The women were visiting and laughing and enjoying their work. There was a store at the factory where I bought a bed quilt. Several of the women stitched their names at the bottom for me. I now had a hand sewn quilt that was made in a factory.