Over the past couple of months, I have had the pleasure of creating a set of two memorial quilts for a woman whose mother, Genevieve, passed away in 2013. Genevieve was known for her lively sense of humor and her dedication to nursing. Taking seven of Genevieve’s garments together with a solid ivory linen, I constructed the two quilts using my Eclipse quilt pattern.
The process began with deconstructing the garments.
Bruce wore a bow tie every day to work, and as a gift, his daughter-in-law wanted to have a quilt made for him using the bulk of his amazing collection of bow ties. With the help of professional organizer, Paula Berman, she sorted, grouped, and sent me 300 bow ties for a custom-designed quilt.
Last March, the son of some good friends of mine turned 18. We are part of a collection of families that have been sharing weekly meals for over two decades, and Curtis is the eldest child of the whole lot. Since my own son is one of the youngest, it momentarily threw me that Curtis would be leaving home to start a new chapter of his life. I wanted to mark the event in some way that involved all of the adults in our community that have watched him grow up.
“I had wanted Lori to make a memorial quilt for years. My mother was in possession of a box of my father’s shirts she had erringly convinced herself were all “taupe”. It was a pleasure to turn over the garments to someone who truly cherishes and understands textiles. I was a recipient of sometimes daily emails and photos that tracked her progress and included me in details of the work. These emails and photos were so compelling that I ended up forwarding them to many relatives, and we all enjoyed watching the quilt come together through the ether. The quilt now lives on my bed, and just the other day as I lay awake in the dark, I was feeling the different textures of the fabrics side by side and realizing there was still more to explore about my beautiful quilt even with my eyes closed.” – Amanda (Lewis’ daughter) Read more >
I have discovered the art of Quilling, and for the last two weeks, have worked with my son’s 4th grade class to make this quilled eagle. We all twirled hundreds of small strips of paper then glued them into an eagle shape inspired by the designs of the native Haida Tribe. Many hours, many hands.
