‘This quilt is stuffed with sentimentality’
Ann O’Loughlin, 54, is an author from County Clare, Ireland.
Growing up in west Ireland, everyone knew my mum, Anne. She was a dressmaker and made all the family’s clothes, as well as most of the town’s, too.
She always encouraged my own interest in sewing, but I wasn’t as talented as her.
By the time I was 15, in 1978, my siblings had left home. During that summer, my mother pulled out fragments of fabric. ‘ We’re going to make a patchwork quilt,’ she told me.
I soon realised they weren’t just any old pieces of material – they were memories, too. There was a simple lilac material with hearts on it that Mum had used to make me an outfit for my first school sports day. I’d taken part in a three-legged race, tripped, and ripped the dress!
Then there was the white fabric that Mum had made a frock out of for me, when I’d cycled to a local bookshop to meet an author.
‘This one’s my favourite,’ I told her, running my fingers over a patch of cloth with gold running through it, which my aunt had sent over when she moved to America.
We spent the whole summer sewing the quilt, and it was a wonderful bonding experience. I listened to Mum’s stories for hours and, when I eventually left home, the quilt went everywhere with me, including travelling around India.
After I’d had my children, it moved into the bedroom of my eldest, Zia, now 15. I’d often find her watching television, wrapped in it.
Sadly, Mum was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2014 and, as she deteriorated, she went into hospital.
‘Do you still have the quilt?’ she asked me once, and I was so grateful that we’d made it together.
Mum passed away in 2015, and the beloved quilt became the inspiration for one of my books. It will keep my family warm for generations to come.
The Ludlow Ladies’ Society, by Ann O’Loughlin, is out now, published by Black & White, priced at £12.99.