From everything his daughter, Phyllis, shared with me about Alfredo, the thing that stood out most was his dedication to his work and the work that he did with his hands. Even down to the last few days leading up to his death, he somehow got himself to Home Depot to get supplies for his next project.

Alfredo was the last born of 5 siblings to Italian immigrants, but the only one to be born in the U.S. He worked as an engineer for Chevrolet and was married to his loving wife for 53 years. While his work was very important to him, Alfredo did not embody the all-work-and-no-play attitude. He loved practical jokes, loved his life, and loved his family.

His daughter decided she wanted to have a memorial quilt made for her mother out of Alfredo’s time-worn shirts. We decided on my Eclipse quilt pattern with its grid structure that reminded us of his love of engineering.

The primarily blue/white/neutral palette was really great to work with.

These white shirts became the ground fabric for the grid.

I’ve never made this quilt design with stripes, so it was fun to play with directional patterns.

I had the bulk of his flannel shirts left after the top was finished, and since the quilt was going to be a functional throw, I pieced what was left of the soft flannel for the backing.

What I love about this process is that so often the materials that I am given dictate the final design. There wasn’t enough of the 2 white shirts for the blocks around the border, but there was just enough of the slightly darker tan plaid shirt to make it. The result is that the stripes between the blocks suddenly stand out and make a visual “fringe” around the border.

Detail with the border:

Even finer detail:

Thank you, Phyllis and Alfredo!