Commemorative Quilts

This quilt honors both of my grandmothers, who each raised a family during the difficult time of the Depression. My quilt group chose this Eleanor Burns’ quilt as our year-long project. We meet monthly to sew, eat dinner, offer quilting advice, and catch up with each other’s lives.

Quilt size: width: 48" height: 64"

My mother is an avid cross word puzzler and plays Words with Friends Scrabble as well. I made this quilt in a scrabble board design using messages written by family and friends as the scrabble tiles for my mother’s 80th birthday. The large blocks are drawings by her great grandchildren ages 1-8.

Quilt size: width: 60" height: 76"

Sepia photos printed on fabric then tinted with colored pencils. These are photos of my parents just before they were married in 1944. Dad was in U.S.Coast Guard and met Mom through a care package she sent to “any serviceman” during WWII. Lucky me – I was their first offspring.

Quilt size: width: 23" height: 16"

In celebration of my in-laws 40th wedding anniversary, my sister-in-law asked me to create a family tree for them. I created this entirely on my own, using my own designs.

Quilt size: width: 50" height: 50"

A colleague of mine was a fan of the Dutch Football club Feyenoord that celebrated their 100 year anniversary and
asked me to make this quilt for her. Because it had to be made with gold fabric it was really a difficult project and I was very happy when it was finished!

Quilt size: width: 25" height: 25"

Our elementary school lost a special student last year to brain cancer. The school hosted an Alex’s Lemonade Stand fundraiser for pediatric cancer. The gray ribbon is the color of brain cancer and the yellow commemorates our lemonade stand. This hangs in “Connor’s Corner” of the school library.

Quilt size: width: 18" height: 24"

I made this little quilt in memory of my Navy veteran father for AAQI. This was one of my first attempts at fusible applique and quilting on my home sewing machine. Many thanks go to Sindy Rodenmayer of Fat Cat Patterns for the use of her eagle design which I reduced in size about 50 percent.

Quilt size: width: 9.5" height: 10.3"

Grama’s Hankie started with a handkerchief I inherited from my grama on her passing. I embroidered her name in her own handwriting in the middle of the handkerchief & embellished the piece with embroidery, Dresden fans, and flying geese. It’s quilted using trapunto and regular FMQ techniques.

Quilt size: width: 28" height: 28"

For her 89th bday, I used 30’s repros, stitcheries, applique and patchwork. Embroidered memory squares showed some of her favorite toys, snippets of songs her daddy and mommy sang to her, and her nickname when she was little. One song in particular was the one she tormented her little brother with!

Quilt size: width: 62" height: 62"

I made this quilt for the daughter of my husband’s boss. Her mother died of breast cancer while she was in high school. It was such a terrible loss. I used all sorts of pink ribbon types of fabrics and then appliqued bright flowers. She cried & was so surprised when she received the quilt.

Quilt size: width: 84" height: 88"

My cousin’s son recently lost his leg to a landmine in Afghanistan. It’s a difficult recovery and I wanted to be sure he knew how proud we are of his commitment to duty. The red/white/blue “Spiderweb” by Elizabeth Dackson was perfect. The backing is a grey/black camo flannel to keep him warm.

Quilt size: width: 55" height: 65"

While planning a trip from Southern Ontario to Saskatchewan several years ago, one of the things I most looked forward to was seeing fields of sunflowers as far as the eye could see. This Mariner’s Compass variation is now my constant reminder of one of the beauties of the prairies.

Quilt size: width: 39" height: 39"

This quilt was made for my brother to commemorate a significant promotion. It was a collaborative effort with my mother doing the photo transfer, my sister helping with the quilting and my sons picking meaningful fabrics. This is my favorite block. You can see the whole thing at the blog link.

Quilt size: width: 45" height: 45"

I made this quilt for my friends’ 40th Wedding Anniversary. Irish chain with 1″ finished squares. Heart-shaped photos appliqued in the blank areas of the “chains.” Densley quilted with trapunto.

Quilt size: width: 60" height: 55"

I saved all of his t-shirts and jerseys since he was in Little League through his 2 years in the minor league system with the Seattle Mariners. There are alot of memories for him, but I think more so for me, when I look at it. I didn’t miss very many games, so it is a treasure of memories for me.

Quilt size: width: 93" height: 112"

The Lincoln Home quilt was done as a thank you to the assisted living facility that took such good care of my Grandmother. My grandmother loved it there. I made the quilt from a brochure of the Lincoln Home. I have used Heat and Bond Lite for the applique and alot of thread painting.

Quilt size: width: 32" height: 20"

Love Apple Quilters in Cherry Hill, NJ celebrated their 30th anniversary February 2010 and many members made a quilt commemorating the event. This quilt is my entry. Each heart highlights an aspect of the guild that makes it so special. I was honored to be their president at the time.

Quilt size: width: 40" height: 39.5"

This quilt was made to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of Westwood High School and was donated to the Marching Band to raffle off for a fundraiser. We have had 6 children go to Westwood as well as my husband and his siblings.

Quilt size: width: 72" height: 90"

This quilt is my 4th quilt to date. It was made for my cousin Katrina’s upcoming wedding on 2/11/12. The hand quilted rope on the border represents a favorite scripture Ecclesiastes 4:12.
The color & many prints represent highs and lows of marriage and celebrating differences in each other.

Quilt size: width: 44" height: 72"