I’ve been working on a quilt for a few months now that I
have been finishing for the family of a good friend that recently passed away, Mary
Spencer. This is Mary with her sons, who are the kindest people in the world:
For several years she and a few other co-workers and I would get together for
what we called “craft lunches.” While we did carve out a few minutes to talk
about or show each other whatever crafty things we were working on and maybe
knit a few stitches, the lunches were really just an excuse to get together,
vent about whatever was going on in our lives and support each other. Of this group of crafters, one of these
coworkers moved away several years ago (one of my best friends, Kathryne, that
I’ve mentioned on this blog before), then Mary retired, then passed away in March of this
year, so the remaining co-worker from the group and I sometimes carry on the
tradition.
I had made this quilt for Mary several years ago:
I had made this quilt for Mary several years ago:
Mary was a knitter, quilter and cross-stitcher, and she had
brought to these lunches some beautiful Paula Vaughan designs that she had cross-stitched,
including the well-known ones featuring quilts.
She also had a Christmas village collection, and she was so excited when
she found some spectacular cross stitch patterns with Victorian houses
decorated for Christmas. When she passed, she was working on one of the last of
these Christmas houses cross-stitch patterns that she’d found.
The final quilt that she was working on was about 1/3 complete was Blooming Blossoms, a quilt as you go pattern from Prairie Sky Quilting. She had told me that she was using scraps to make the quilt, as well as her favorite color, purple, as the background, and that she started it in either late October or early November of 2017. A few months before she passed, she asked me if I would be willing to finish it for her for her family. So, when the day came, her sons gave me all the blocks she’d made and her handwritten notes about her plans for the quilt and its layout as well as lots of her scrap fabric. (Since this is a pattern for purchase, I won't share her piecing diagram here.)
The general way the quilt is constructed is the standard quilt-as-you-go method, in which you make strips
in certain dimensions, then stitch them through the batting and backing to make
each square. So, you stitch down the each piece in sequence, starting like this:
And then keep adding strips, then the corner triangles:
Then sew four squares
together by stitching just the backing together, then folding the raw edge of
the backing fabric under and stitching that on the top, forming a central star:
Mary had drawn out her layout of the quilt and how she had
put the block together, since she was doing it slightly different than the
pattern instructed, which she had told me a few times. I didn’t use the instructions for the quilt, I
just copied what she had already done, so that what I made would match her
dimensions.
Here's the finished quilt (85" x 100"):
Here's the finished quilt (85" x 100"):
The quilt as you go style of quilting was new to me, so that
was a challenge. However, it was much
more emotionally challenging to work on this quilt, using the blocks and pieces
that she had already made. Seeing her
handwritten notes about the quilt, not to mention some of the instructions and
paperwork I have from her at work just brings back a flood of sadness that’s
bittersweet. Sometimes I was sewing
through my tears.
Her sons told me that some of the quilt blocks had some fun
fabrics in them, like this one, with yellow background and ladybugs, that was
from a bandana that was put on one of their dogs at a visit to the groomers (:
Her sons treated her with such devotion and respect She often told me how much she appreciated
their and her daughters-in-law’s care for her. I wish I would have been able to attend her funeral, but I’m
very thankful to have been able to see her a few times in the months and weeks
before she passed.
I am not sure who in her family is getting this quilt, but I
hope they’ll be wrapped in her warmth and love when they see it and use it. Sitting down to write this post is difficult,
as it’s my final farewell to my friend. I
had so many things I wanted to write while I was finishing her quilt, but now
all I can think to say is that I miss her and love her dearly.
What do we leave behind of ourselves more than the things we
make and the people we touch? In
completing her quilt, it forces me to say goodbye.
Your kindness outlasted you, Mary. I miss you and I will miss you.