A dear friend who lives in California gave us this beautifully embroidered quilt for a wedding present.
Last year, when we got our new bookcases, we moved it to hang at the
stairs.
Imagine our surprise when we saw a similar quilt hanging in a similar place in the Clint Eastwood movie 'Gran Torino'.
it is, as my friend explained, a handmade quilt telling the story of refugees.
I found this explanation when I did some Googling:
"Hmong story cloths are an art unto themselves, totally separate from other Hmong textiles which feature geometric designs rather than pictorial. They are called "Paj Ntaub Tib Neeg" and these lovely pictorial embroideries developed very recently in Hmong history. It appears that Hmong men began to draw elements of traditional Hmong stories to help make sure they would be remembered during the times of change. While in the refugee camps, if not sooner, women began to have the men draw on fabric so that they could stitch the stories on cloth.
They are an incredible blending of tradition and modernization. Story quilts come in an array of themes from food preparation to courting and wedding traditions to life in refugee camps.
These remarkable embroidered cloths include not only the stories and daily life of Hmong culture but also record their experiences during the Vietnam war and their escape to Thailand.
Our quilt, it appears, is known as an "escape" quilt' .