http://www.blisstree.com/articles/comments-from-quilters-create-a-community-79/ Family, Health, Home and Lifestyles Wed, 16 Dec 2009 08:04:23 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 http://www.blisstree.com/articles/comments-from-quilters-create-a-community-79/comment-page-1/#comment-54331 Kim Fri, 25 Apr 2008 17:50:40 +0000 http://www.quiltingandpatchwork.com/2008/04/23/comments-from-quilters-create-a-community/#comment-54331 Some years ago a group of friends made a memory quilt for one who was moving away. I gave each family a 10" square and said they could do anything they wanted with it and when I got them all back I put them together with sashing and a border. I know the friend who moved away treasures that quilt and all the memories it evokes! There were wildly divergent blocks but it created a harmonious whole because it was made with love. We spent a year in Africa and we left our son in the U.S. at college. I took along all that I needed to make him a memory quilt. Before I left I had a variety of pictures from babyhood on to his college days transferred to fabric. Those pictures formed the windows in house blocks (and a few doors when they were vertical shots). I pieced all the blocks by hand because I had neither electricity nor a sewing machine. But we did have solar panels that allowed me to use a little power each day and I was able to borrow a machine to sew the blocks together with sashing and a border. I got a little carried away and what started out to be a twin size turned into a king! Now I'm working on several African memory quilts. I'm incorporating batiks and objects we brought back with us. For my daughter's memory quilt I used wonky shaped strips of vibrant hued fabrics to create the background and added some small batiks here and there. Now I'm appliquing things that will remind her of our time in Uganda: paper doll figures in matching dresses evoke the classes she took at the secondary school, a tall skinny silhouette of an African woman carrying a basket on her head will remind her of market days... You get the idea. Anyway, although memory quilts are not the only thing I make, they are one of my favorites! And especially with the ones I'm working on now, as I usually quilt with friends and they help me brainstorm ideas of what to include. That adds to the memories! This is a long post, but something I feel pretty passionate about. Thanks for letting me sound out about it! Some years ago a group of friends made a memory quilt for one who was moving away. I gave each family a 10″ square and said they could do anything they wanted with it and when I got them all back I put them together with sashing and a border. I know the friend who moved away treasures that quilt and all the memories it evokes! There were wildly divergent blocks but it created a harmonious whole because it was made with love.
We spent a year in Africa and we left our son in the U.S. at college. I took along all that I needed to make him a memory quilt. Before I left I had a variety of pictures from babyhood on to his college days transferred to fabric. Those pictures formed the windows in house blocks (and a few doors when they were vertical shots). I pieced all the blocks by hand because I had neither electricity nor a sewing machine. But we did have solar panels that allowed me to use a little power each day and I was able to borrow a machine to sew the blocks together with sashing and a border. I got a little carried away and what started out to be a twin size turned into a king!
Now I’m working on several African memory quilts. I’m incorporating batiks and objects we brought back with us. For my daughter’s memory quilt I used wonky shaped strips of vibrant hued fabrics to create the background and added some small batiks here and there. Now I’m appliquing things that will remind her of our time in Uganda: paper doll figures in matching dresses evoke the classes she took at the secondary school, a tall skinny silhouette of an African woman carrying a basket on her head will remind her of market days… You get the idea.
Anyway, although memory quilts are not the only thing I make, they are one of my favorites! And especially with the ones I’m working on now, as I usually quilt with friends and they help me brainstorm ideas of what to include. That adds to the memories!
This is a long post, but something I feel pretty passionate about. Thanks for letting me sound out about it!

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