Charity Quilt

I try from time to time to make quilts for people I do not know, through various projects which collect quilts for people in need. This quilt was part of a group of quilts made by AIQ for a half-way house for young women in trouble. Many of the parts of this top were given to me, several were pieced by Mary Lou, but I designed and pieced the quilt. The quilt was subsequently machine quilted by Shannon Baker, and the binding put on by Sue May. So, this is really very much a group project and not my quilt. At least not mine alone!

Ana's Fruit and Veggies Quilt

After Henri's quilt, I started thinking about what to make for Ana. Pink was a given, but then what? I had seen some cool fruit and vegetable fabrics and decided they would make a cute and colorful quilt if nothing else. And maybe I could get away with saying that I was inspired by Ana's sometime nick name: Ana Banana. So I started scouting for those kinds of fabrics and was amazed to learn just how many different ones I could find.

Ana seemed to like her quilt which I think she might have been expecting after I made one for her brother. I think she was surprised by the nature of the quilt, having possibly anticipated fairies, princesses or something equally girly. But she was fine with the veggies and fruits and proudly told me: "I even like fruits and vegetables." The quilt was machine quilted by Regina Carter.

Strips and Curves

I took a class taught by my friend Ellen to make this quilt. Ellen, a member of AIQ, is an awesome quilter. She is creative, talented, has an amazing eye for color, and produces one amazing and unique quilt after another. I have no illusion that I will ever be in her class but when she taught this class I jumped at the option to learn from a master.

This quilt required very precise work and attention to detail, something I am not otherwise known for! It was a challenge but I enjoyed learning how to do it and am happy with the result, which was machine quilted by Regina Carter.

Benjamin's Quilts

In May 1998, an unbelievable tragedy hit our family. Our nephew, Benjamin, who had just turned 18 a week earlier and who would've graduated from high school a week later, was killed in a traffic accident. Benjamin was a handsome, winsome, intelligent, funny, loving and lovable young man with a lot of potential. Losing him was deeply tragic. The entire family was in shock and deep grief. Needless to say, his parents and younger sister Julia were hit the hardest. Their grief was unbearable and indescribable.

In a situation such as this, everybody hurts and everybody wants to help. I felt, as did the rest of the family, that I would do anything to help ease their pain. But, of course, nobody and nothing can. Nevertheless, I wanted to do SOMETHING. And since quilting is what I do, I made a quilt for Benjamin's parents and sister which I gave them a year later, the anniversary week of for his birth and death.

There was no particular reason for choosing the log cabin pattern, other than that I like it. I made it green because Benjamin grew up and lived on the beautiful family farm, and I quilted stars - chosen as a symbol of Benjamin by his family - around the border. Stars for what Benjamin was and for where he now is.

Several years later, Benjamin's mother, Steve's sister Katie, asked me to make a quilt from some of Benjamin's T-shirts. I'd never made a T-shirt quilt and it was quite a challenge, but it was a labor of love which I very much enjoyed. I used T-shirts, a couple of ties, and parts of a couple of jackets and sweat shirt. Again, green was the dominant color, especially two green batiks which I bought for this purpose. My friend Regina Carter machine quilted it.

Anne Mette's Flowers

I collected a bunch of different flower prints and made this quilt in 2005, for my cousin Anne Mette. At that time Anne Mette liked to dress primarily in black, and never bought or wore anything colorful. So, in a way I made this quilt to tease her or in an attempt to bring her out. Fortunately, she loved the quilt - even if she would never have worn it!