Story behind the Colors and the Quilt

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Yellow: Is for Hope, Support, and Remembrance for aging as our generation of family has grown.

Green: Green is life, abundant in nature. Green signifies growth, renewal, health, and environment for harmony, balance, and stability.

The family gathers many important artifacts that provide different memories and representations of their history. The quilt is one of these artifacts, along with a wide variety of other things. The stories are passed down through the generations and the artifacts provide constant reminders and hold many of the family stories.

There are intriguing stories of how quilting was used to help the slaves escape through the Underground Railroad. A Log Cabin quilt hanging in a window with a black center for the chimney hole was said to indicate a safe house. Underground Railroad quilts, a variation of Jacob's Ladder, were said to give cues as to the safe path to freedom. We imagine women secretly sewing fabric pieces together to be used as signals.

It is disappointing to learn that research on the Underground Railroad has found no evidence that this actually occurred. These stories have been told from generation to generation filling our imagination with visions of quilting being a part of the fight for freedom.

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