My friend, Linda, and I attend a monthly Girl's Night at a quilt shop in Dell Rapids, and the main feature is a show 'n tell time. There are some amazing quilters that attend, and I really enjoy being inspired by the beautiful items they bring. Last evening I brought a quilt that I made fifteen years ago.
We were looking ahead and planning for my mom's 80th birthday later that year, and I wanted to do something with a quilt. After much thought and searching for ideas, I decided to do a crazy quilt design and include pictures. This is how it turned out, and it has been hanging on Mom's wall ever since.
There are twelve blocks and each one has a theme: Parents, Siblings, Young Woman, Marriage, Children, Grandchildren, Great-Grandchildren, Career, Hostess, Sewing/Needlework, Reading/Puzzles and the Birthday block.
I had the pictures printed on a special paper and the image could then be ironed onto a plain piece of fabric. Once that was done, those pieces were just included with other fabric in a crazy quilt design.
As each block was sewn together, I passed them off to my mother, who did all the hand stitching. She did a stitch along each connecting seam and then embellished as she saw fit - using lots of flowers. I treasure each of those stitches and the love that she put into this project.
We then chose other items to add to the finished quilt - buttons, bits of lace and ribbon, her 20 year pin from her job, and a treasured locket.
Because of the pictures, we were unable to quilt it in a traditional way, but there is stitching around each block to hold it secure.
And since it is not the type of quilt that will be used or washed, that works just fine.
Are you inspired to try a similar project to honor the life of someone special to you? It doesn't need to be expressed in the same way with needle and thread, but I want to assure you that you will be glad you made the effort.
Time passes, and what was possible fifteen years ago would not be possible today.
Till next time...
Blessings,
Gail
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