It started with a long ago and far away phone call from a lovely gentleman from Virginia. His wife had recently died and he was interested in finding a way to honor her through the use of her clothes to construct a Memory Quilt.
Once we processed this new-to-us idea and embraced it, he wrote us a long letter describing incidents in the life of his spouse that he wanted to find a way to reproduce in cloth. One major story concerned a hike he and Barbara had taken, where she found herself standing under a bower of fuschia surrounded by hummingbirds which apparantly mistook her for another larger fuschia plant since she was wearing a jacket of that brillant color. He also wanted a Tree of Life with wood ducks nesting in its branches to be depicted in the quilt.
What followed was months and months of intense work, where we used ever quilting skill we knew, some we had to learn, and some we “borrowed.” Since this was a 'stretch' project for us, we begged the use of the architectual design services of my brother, the specialized woodworking tools of our friend, the color-critical eyes of our spouses and especially the hard labor of our almost 90 year old Mom. We structured the quilt multiple times on paper. We appliquéd the scene, fusing each element and stitching the fusings. We embroidered parts of the ducks and even use fabric paint on thier feathers. We must’ve considered two dozen borders before making our choice. The top was completed and it was up to the artistry of Chris with the longarm machine to bring the center scene to life.
Finally, the day came and he flew across multiple states to come pick up his precious remembrance. We had the joy and trepidation of presenting the quilt to him on Thursday.
He was touched and pleased beyond our wildest dreams. Not only did the constructed scene delight him, he both cried and laughed as he discovered the unique sections of Barbara's clothing in the outer blocks of the quilt. We had the privilege of learning more and more about Barbara and his deep and abiding love for her through the stories he regaled us with as he saw yet another piece of her clothes. These fragments of fabrics came to life and made us all smile with the joy of a life well lived coupled with the sweet sadness of the loss we all grew to feel.
Memory quilts. They are surely more than just pieces of cloth.
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