Granddaddy's Quilt

This quilt was made of scraps from many different sources, all stripes and checks. I hand pieced and hand quilted it. Of all the quilts I have made, it is without a doubt the one which was most appreciated and for which I was thanked the most.

In 2002, I drew my father-in-law's name for Christmas. Since he was ill and not able to do much at all, it was hard to figure out what to get him. So as a last resort I made a quilt. It seems to be my solution to all of my problems: when all else fails, make a quilt. One of the many side-effects of his illness was that he was constantly cold. So the quilt was very useful to him and he used it almost every day of the rest of his life. Sadly, he died in October 2005, but while he was still well enough to be up and in his chair, he almost always had the quilt across his lap as seen below.

Baby Quilts for Emet and Eli

When Gabriella was pregnant with her first child - also Ben's first child! - I came to visit them in New Orleans. We visited the local quilt shop and they picked out four purple fabrics for their child's baby quilt. I added others from my stash and made the flying geese quilt above for Emet, who is seen below with his adoring parents, not too long after his birth in July of 2001.
Then, rather quickly, Gabriella became pregnant again and I used the left overs from the first quilt to make the 9-patch for Emet's little brother, Eli, who is enjoying his quilt below.

Fleece for Mols

I hand pieced and tied this quite large - and pretty heavy (fleece on top and back and polyester batting to boot) - fleece quilt intending it for my parents' beach cottage. Thought it would be nice and cozy there where winter can be a bit chilly.

But for several years they kept it at their house on their guest bed - so I got to sleep under it when I visited. However, after they moved to a much smaller house in September 2007, it did go to the beach house.

Murphy's Life

When Murphy's cancer recurred in late 2001, I wanted to make her a quilt. But I definitely did not want it to be an illness quilt, so I decided to quilt into it images from Murphy's life. There is a different image quilted in each of the blue and brown blocks. Unfortunately, my feeble skills with a camera does not allow you to see what the images are from this photo. If you know Murphy, you will just have to fill in the blanks yourself.

The fabric in this quilt was - with one exception - brought back to me from Japan by my parents.