Fun fact about the amazing Ellie Clarkson: not only was she an unrelenting Scrabble shark, but she also had a thing for spirals. As a quilter looking for symbolic imagery for a memorial quilt design, I had to go no further.

I received a phone call from Ellie’s son David as he was standing in her closet wondering what to gather and send to me for a quilt. It is a tender, vulnerable moment to do this after losing a loved one. With a minimum of coaching, David chose a lovely collection of garments. Her shirts and blouses mirrored her vibrant spirit and ranged from light to dark, giving me ample flexibility to create a dynamic pattern.

In addition to Ellie’s blouses, David also included an old quilt into the mix, encouraging me to repurpose the fabrics.

Having heard about Ellie’s Scrabble prowess and her take-no-prisoners approach (her young grandsons weren’t even allowed to win), my initial designs went with that theme. Upon reflection, both David and I decided to focus instead on her love of spirals.

The design we agreed upon was based on a geometric spiral block that was repeated four times and pieced together into a larger block that resembled a spiraling windmill shape. Each windmill was made out of two contrasting shirts.

As a nod to her Scrabble passion, I pieced in some small “letter squares” at the tips of some of the spiral blocks.

This striped shirt with the little red flowers was a particular favorite.

There was never any doubt that the red windmill block needed to be placed at the quilt’s center.

Here is the final quilt, now hanging in a place of honor in David’s dining room.

Here is a detail showing the spiral quilting pattern.

Sending a heartfelt thank you to David for trusting the process and allowing me to create this vivid, radiant piece in honor of Ellie.