Xena Swords and the Quilt I Made for My Mom

This is really not related to anything, but I thought the photo was nice. Nice because Xena swords look nice pretty much wherever you put them and nice because that's the quilt I had made my Mom a number of years ago. It resides draped over that chair, a favorite book reading spot of mine. When my Mom passed away a few years ago and my siblings and I were going through the house, sorting things in that Keep-Donate-Trash sort of way, I came across the quilt and claimed it. This is how we were doing it, as we found things we thought we might want, we declared it out loud, "I want this __________." And what an agreeable group we were in our shared grief (this surprised me because we fought like cats and dogs as kids and teenagers). So, I got back the quilt I had made my Mom and I also got my Dad's black cowboy boots (which are technically too big for me, but that hasn't stopped me from wearing them -- sometimes). 

(Swords L to R: unfinished metal, finished metal, foam, metal retractable, resin)

I really enjoyed making it and my mother loved it's wild eye-popping colors. Her own quilts tended to be composed of mostly pastel fabrics while I embraced jewel-tone batiks and hand-dyes with a fervor. My father used it too -- as a lap warmer when he went for his 3-times-a-week dialysis sessions. Handmade quilts are quite durable things; a well-made quilt of cotton fabrics, cotton batting, and cotton thread can be expected to survive 100 years or more -- they are instant family heirlooms. So this quilt is youngish, relatively speaking; it has a lot of time ahead of it. 

I see these Xena swords as heirlooms as well. They are incredibly well-made, even the foam and resin versions. Foam doesn't have a long lifetime, of course, but solid resin and metal will last the test of time. Technically, the quilt is pretty much the same age as these production swords. I think the swords will last longer, given their more durable composition, but I love the idea of appreciating good craftsmanship that is both attractive/desirable and made to last. And, as I have been in possession of these for a time that can legitimately be measured in decades, these are items to be handed down as much as they are to be bought and sold. Too sentimental for you? I hear you; I just disagree.