Quilt of Memory and Blessing

About a month ago I wrote about fabric speaking to me, so I responded with action. I gathered the fabric, carried it home, allowed other fabric to join it and pieced what I believed to be the top. As I pieced the quilt I thought of the serviceman it was for- he serves our country well, having deployed more times than his wife would enjoy remembering, serving his country so that we can enjoy our freedoms while he gives up his. He is a husband, friend and father. He is a sportsman, hunter, fisher and carpenter. He lives life and enjoys the blessing of his home. His family is a joy and delight to us and so I asked his girls to join me in this project.


I gave them several blank pages with titles, they illustrated the pages and turned them back over to me. I used the pictures as the basis of the quilting for this quilt. As I began I realized that the back was becoming the front and the front the back. The patched side reflects in cloth print the interests of this man. The "back" whole cloth side illustrates his life, loves and delights.
The next step was to transfer them onto the cloth- i have found that a white pastel pencil works great and washes out fine. Since there were so many pages I decided to just use the page idea and drew on the rectangles as though they had scattered all over the fabric, then i filled them in randomly, centered around the family portrait.


After the image was drawn on the fabric I used my darning foot and free motion stitched over the lines, tacking at start and stop to lock thread in. I used a contrasting thread color for the main images- enough to show but not too great of a contrast. After main images were complete I considered how to fill in the spaces. I decided to use theme elements from the pictures- tree tops, clouds,hearts, sun, fish, tools, coffee cups and coffee beans to go with the cups. Where there were large spaces I drew a "family tree" and filled it in with family member names. The clouds and hearts needed fill so they were used to hold words to describe pictures, what is enjoyed and what is going on in the lives of the family this year. Random lines are also in use to fill in space and quilt open places. I used a thread color that matches the backing for the extra quilting so it is visible but does not overwhelm the main illustrations.

When all quilting was done I dotted the ends with fray check for saftey sake and after trimming and binding into the washer it went. I love the antique look of a washed quilt, so that is what the end quilt will have. It will now go to spend time in the house of the solider, gathering love and scent from the family before being bagged and sent over for a piece of home away from home.
As I reflect upon this quilt it seems to me that the beauty of quilting is embodied in this one. It tells the story of a family, this season of life has been put into a form to be shared both now and in days to come. The illustrations will be recalled in future years, art work that might be forgotten has become preserved. The passions and interests of this season are identified. The costly sacrifice is hinted at. The story is told.