The information below is taken from my book, My Paper Memory Quilt: A Family History Pack. When we come across an old patchwork quilt, no matter how worn or faded with age, we touch it with awe. In doing so, we connect with the people who came before us and the memories they bring to mind. Each scrap of material used for the many patches, or panels, that make up the quilt came from a cloth or item of clothing that was once used or worn by someone from the past.

CLICK ON THE COVER ABOVE TO MAKE YOUR OWN MEMORY QUILT!

	A panel of white material with embroidered flowers may have been cut from great-grandmother's wedding dress (what was she like?); a strip of muslim from a shirt worn by great-great-great grandfather (what kind of work did he do?). And we begin to think about these people and wonder what their lives must have been like. Not all of us are fortunate enough to possess an ancestral patchwork quilt, but each of us can create our own paper memory quilt to highlight the memories and special experiences of our lives and families.
	Such a quilt can be made up of individual cardboard panels. (A good size is 7 inches by 7 inches, although panels can be larger if you prefer). On them you and your relatives and friends - working together or separately - can draw or write your special stories. Tape or pin each completed panel on the wall. And, panel by panel, your paper patchwork quilt will grow over time before your eyes as you recollect the key events of your life. It will become an enduring keepsake.
	This family activity can be done Saturday mornings over the dark winter months or on long summer vacations or during family holidays. It can provide a wonderful way for younger and older generations to connect and produce a wonderful document showing family memories and traditions. You'll need a few simple supplies, like oak tag or cardboard, crayon or colored pencils, copies of favorite family photos, a scissor, some glue, and maybe some favorite old magazines from which you can cut out photos that may help you show your memory. For example, a picture of the beach might be pasted on a panel showing a happy vacation memory.
	Each of us is a little like a patchwork quilt. Our ''patches'' are all the many things we have experienced, all the memories and hopes - and even tears - we have accumulated. And as we sit with relatives to fill in the blank panels for our paper quilt, we will be telling the stories of our lives, much the same way our ancestors did in sewing together their cloth quilts. There are many subjects you can include in your panels. (Go to: Themes For Panels of Your Memory Quilt). Someinclude: key events in your family's history; the special things that make you the unique person you are; the fun times you have experienced, and your hopes and dreams for the future. Creating a paper memory quilt can also help ease your way through grief and sad times.
Author Bill Zimmerman with youngsters about to make a memory quilt.	As you complete each paper panel, you can pin or tape it on a wall and over weeks observe a paper quilt, showing your life stories, emerging in front of your eyes. The quilt panels can also be stored in a folder and referred to from time to time, the same way you keep photograph albums to record your life or store treasures in a special chest that you open from time to time.
These panels represent the best things of your life. In addition, you can tape-record the conversation you and a family member may have had in completing a panel - this becomes an oral history of the memory and makes the quilt project an even richer family experience. If you create your own paper memory quilt, please consider sharing your experiences with us by sending an email to: WmZ@aol.com. We'll print some of them on the BLOG With Bill Zimmerman feedback page of this site. These suggestions for creating a family paper memory quilt are taken from my book, My Paper Memory Quilt: A Family History Pack. To obtain a copy of this book, go to www.amazon.com, or www.barnesandnoble.com, or go to our Ordering Info section. To learn how to interview relatives and record their life stories, go to How to Tape Instant Oral Biographies: Recording Your Family's Life Story in Sound and Sight. You can also find more family fun on the Let's Make Believe! page.
Illustrations for My Paper Memory Quilt: A Family History Pack by Maria Caluccio. Photos by Jim Cummins.