Stitches in time

Grace Taylor's hands are seldom still.

Despite her advancing age, she finds ways to keep busy, which mostly means making quilts.

She has spent thousands of hours and made around 500 quilts over the course of her life, usually making between four and five quilts at once.

"I get so excited about the second that I have to start it before I finish the first one," she said.

Taylor likes to make what she calls pioneer quilts, which are mostly made out of scraps. Heirloom quilts, which are what most would equate with homemade quilts, are carefully measured with patterns in perfect order. Most people use them only on special occasions. Pioneer quilts, on the other hand, are made to be used and their patterns aren't perfect.

"I don't make them to be perfect. I make them to give away. I want them to be practical and high-use quilts," Taylor said, then added with a smile, "Anyone who says they're not perfect is a snoop."

She chuckled as she told the story of one of her nieces who wanted to put the quilt her Aunt Grace had made her on the wall, instead of the bed, to protect it. Taylor told her to use the quilt, because if she was that worried about it being ruined, she would make her another one.

Taylor's favorite type of quilt to make is a tricot quilt, somewhat like a bedspread, with a picture of an LDS Temple stitched in the center, surrounded by a design. This type of quilt requires 100-180 hours of hand-quilting to make the center design, depending on how complicated it is. She likes to give quilts like this to her grandchildren when they get married.

Another common quilt Taylor makes is a camp quilt. She takes three-inch blocks of material, normally scraps, and sews them together. She gets a piece of material to become the back, then ties it with yarn. These quilts are heavier and more durable. When the family goes camping, she brings the quilts along to give away.

Taylor has also made some quilts that require stitching on the top besides hand-quilting. One of these was a baby cross-stitch quilt that came with the pattern already on it, and she spent 500 hours cross-stitching it. Another quilt with a pattern of circles interlocked together, called the double wedding ring, required both embroidery and French knots.

She enjoys making quilts that defy description as well, such as the crazy and casserole quilts. The crazy quilt has all shapes and sizes of material sewn together, not in any particular pattern. The casserole quilt is made by sewing all the leftover strips of material together.