Quilts in Heaven

Why I Wrote “Quilts in Heaven”

Every quilter eventually inherits one. A quilt that came from someone who is no longer here. Maybe it is finished. Maybe it is a stack of blocks in a drawer that never got sewn together, and now never will by the hands that started them.

You can feel that person in the stitching. You can see where they got tired, where they got bold, where they used up the last of a fabric they clearly loved. A quilt is one of the few things a person can leave behind that still holds the shape of their hands.

This is the song about that.

What “Quilts in Heaven” Is Really About

This one is for my mother-in-law.

After she passed away, my husband and I, along with other family members, went through her house. Cleaning it out. Packing it up. Getting everything ready for the estate sale. And the fabric. Oh, the fabric. I took a TON of it home. My mom took a TON of it home. We still sold fabric by the pound at the estate sale. And after ALL of that, we still had a car full of fabric to donate.

That is a quilter’s life, measured in yardage.

And somewhere in the middle of it all, looking at everything she had made — quilt after quilt after quilt, all that work, all that patience, all that love — I turned to my mom and said, “There must be quilts in heaven.”

And the song came into my mind. Right there. Some songs you have to chase for weeks. This one just arrived, in the middle of the packing boxes, and asked to be written.

It is not really a sad song, though it will probably make you cry. It is a song about continuation. Someone cut those pieces and did not get to finish. Someone else picks up the work. The quilt keeps going, and so does the love that started it.

Of everything on this album, this is the one that takes the cake for me.

Frequently Asked Questions About “Quilts in Heaven”

Is this song about a real person? Yes. My mother-in-law, who left behind more fabric than two families, an estate sale sold by the pound, and a donation car could absorb — and every quilt she ever made.

Is this a sad song? It is a tender one. Most people who have lost a quilter in their family will need a minute after the first listen.

Who is this song for? Anyone who has inherited a quilt, finished someone else’s blocks, or kept a stack of fabric they cannot bring themselves to cut into.

🎧 Listen to “Quilts in Heaven” and then tell me — whose quilt do you still have? I would love to hear about it in the comments.