Design
Concept
In 2000, my husband’s 52 year old sister Janet died after many years on dialysis. This quilt was made for her 21 year old son in her memory.
I started by gathering as many pictures of Janet as her family could find. They included all of her old school pictures and many pictures of her at different stages of her life, which spanned the transition between black and white photography and color photography. I scanned the photos into the computer and made an arrangement that I thought represented her well. I didn’t want to just line up the photos in rectangles, so I made a heart shaped wreath of wild rose blossoms to connect the various photos. In the wreath I added humming birds, which Janet had always loved. She had swarms of them feeding just outside her kitchen window all year long.
Around the center panel I added a narrow border of hand painted fabric. This was followed by a wider border in a black and white check pattern. In the white checks I printed the text of the beautiful eulogy her son wrote for her memorial service. In the dark checks are pictures of her at every stage of her life. A second border of painted fabric and a black binding complete the quilt. |
