Child of God, wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, quilter, basket lover, amateur photographer, flower and vegetable gardener …….. some a little of who I am, some a lot of who I am, and all a part of me. When I started quilting several years ago, it sparked a passion in my creative side that I never knew existed. I fell in love with it from the very start. I love everything about it, from choosing the fabrics and designing the quilt until the time I finish the last stitch of the binding and everything in between.

Monday, January 14, 2013

A different kind of memory quilt --- in memory of



These two quilts were ones I was honored to create, but wish the circumstances were different.  Our little town lost a beloved member last August.  His name is Josh and he was in his 20s, I think 28.   He was captain of the volunteer fire department and that had been his passion since he was a little boy.  He was engaged to be married in September, and the week before his death in August he took wedding invitations to all his firemen friends at their weekly fire meeting.  They later talked about the smile on his face as he passed out the invitations for the upcoming celebration.  He worked as a logger and one morning in August he was struck by a falling tree.  He knew he was very badly injured and wanted to speak with his mom.  A coworker dialed her number and Josh spoke to her for several minutes before he passed away.  As a mother …… I cannot imagine.  It had to be the most painful yet one of the most precious conversations of her life.  She talked calmly to him and asked him to hang on because help was on the way.  She said later that she was at work and did not recognize the number because it was her son's co-worker's phone and typically would not have even answered it, but this time she did.  She said she is forever grateful for those precious few moments to spend talking to her son before he died.  The young man's aunt asked me if I could make two memory quilts, one for her sister and one for her mother (Josh's mother and grandmother).  Josh's mom loves purple and his grandmother loves red, so they each got their own quilt made of Josh's tees.  I heard from the mom today and she put the quilt on the antique cast iron twin bed that he once slept in.  Here are pictures of the two finished quilts and a center block of each, which were tees from a benefit held in his honor last fall. The ladies in the picture are his sister and his aunt. 




1 comment:

  1. Precious memory quilts. What a story--choked me up. I can't imagine what that was like for Josh's Mom.

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