My most recent memorial quilt was made from the clothing of a 16-year old girl, named Amanda, who died much too young. By far the youngest person to be honored through one of my quilts, the tenor of my process and the experience of working with her clothing was notably different from many of my other quilts. My correspondence throughout the entire project with Amanda’s mother, Danielle, felt fluid and honest, and I was deeply touched by her openness.

As Danielle and I discussed Amanda’s wonderful qualities and talents, she told me that Amanda had loved coloring in wonderfully complex coloring book designs. We both thought that would be a great place to begin mapping out a custom design for the quilt. Danielle sent me a few of her colorings, and as soon as I saw them, I knew they would be great starting points for a quilt.

After having made numerous memorial quilts with people’s clothing, I have become accustomed to the ritual of opening the box I receive, immediately laying everything out on my table, and getting to work. When I received the box of Amanda’s clothing and opened the top, the first garment I saw was a sheer, floral blouse – typical teenage girl fare – but it stopped me in my tracks for a few moments as I contemplated the intense juxtaposition of the lively, optimistic quality of her blouse with the deep sadness of her loss.

Presently, my entire table was filled with bright, sassy prints, ripped jeans, and flannel pajamas – it was a beautiful collection.

Not long after, I deconstructed the garments into workable pieces.

I created the quilt design based on a couple of different motifs from Amanda’s colorings and began cutting out the pieces.

I knew immediately that there would be a lot of appliqué in my future due to the many leaf shapes in the colorings.

Once the quilt started to take shape, I became more and more pleased with the yellow polka dot print that figured prominently across the quilt. It came from a large piece of fabric yardage that Danielle included in the box, and it really helped to visually unify the quilt.

Once the “floral” blocks were finished, then came the curved piecing of the “diamond” blocks, along with lots of pinning!

The purple fabric for the lattice came from a Hawaiian floral dress.

Finally, I turned my attention to the back. I don’t always do a pieced backing, but I knew from the start that the denim, the flannel pajamas, and the printed canvas from a few purses would make a great stand alone combination. My quilter, Nancy Stovall, did an amazing job on the quilting which especially shows up on the denim.

The final quilt was so beautiful and a lovely homage to a life lost entirely too soon.