Over the course of a few years I had the honour of working with a family to make 3 memorial quilts from the clothing of their beloved dad/partner. He was a man who loved his yard and garden and was a devoted father.
I've been remiss at posting blogs and on social media. I don't know how folks manage it all! With the kids, and the dogs, and the cat, and the house, and the sewing, and the photography, and the editing, and planning, and the communication, and the yard, and my sweet supportive partner trying to keep me sane, the whole 'sharing' part of my work has never been at the forefront. I have an email list that rarely gets used, but I'm trying. I really am.
For today, I'm happy to look back at these 3 lovely quilts and remember the time, energy and love that went into working with their keepers on them. I hope they are still providing support and comforting memories in their homes.
Dresden Flower with patchwork back
Memorial Quilts
Dresden Flower
Double Wedding Ring
Orange Peel
This double/full size memorial quilt that was completed back in 2022. It features 7 large Dresden flowers across the front surrounded by snow Kona white fabric.
“TO HER, THE NAME OF FATHER WAS ANOTHER NAME FOR LOVE."
– Fanny Fern
Deciding on the backing of a quilt can difficult in the best of times, but even more so when it's for a memorial quilt. There are so many deep emotions tied to these special items of clothing. They tell so many stories and hold so many memories. My client and I went back and forth with a number of ideas, but it took a long time to realize the answer was in front of us the entire time. There was enough fabric to do a simple square/rectangle patchwork on the back and use up as much of her father's clothing as possible.
We ended up with a double sided quilt filled with memories of her dad and I made a patchwork binding from remaining scraps.
Double Wedding Ring with Dresden on the back
This quilt was actually the first in this series to get completed. A gift for dad's partner, this double wedding ring design used tiny pieces of his shirts together to create this beautiful design. All my quilting is free motion, I have no computerized system for my long arm, so each quilt is perfectly imperfect, made with my human hands. The day I was set to photograph and ship this quilt was rainy, but it needed to go home.
I drove to my partner's work on his break and he ran out to hold it up for me to grab these photos as my kids watched from the van.
The back of the quilt had a large Dresden flower made from an assortment of dad's ties. Like the Dresden quilt, both quilts used Snow Kona fabric. The binding was made with a beautifully bright yellow shirt.
The day she delivered the quilt to her Stepmom she stopped to take this photo of the quilt at her father's grave.
Orange Peel with Chambray back
I shared the other two quilts on my last website (I think), but never shared the one below. This one showcased a lovely flower quilting pattern in the sashing around the sides and an orange peel design quilted with a design that represented all the seeds of love, and wisdom, and knowledge her father sowed in his life. The white that was used in the other two ties in to this quilt as well, but this quilt was finished with a chambray backing and sashing.
