Quilting Together: Remembering Barbara

May 8th, 1951-March11, 2012

In a few weeks it will be a year since my sister passed away. She had struggled with liver disease for many years. When I think about the many reason I quilt, being able to give something meaningful to a person you love is right up there. I have not been quilting for long, and was really a newbie when I decided to make this simple quilt for my sister. Some things to know about this quilt. My sister loved to garden and loved all kinds of flowers. So the simplest thing I could do was make a garden quilt to wrap up in on the days and nights when she ached. The back was flannel for extra warmth. The cheerful flowers also made her smile. The day I gave her this quilt was just a regular day. I had stopped in to see her and gave her the quilt telling her I wanted her to remember how much I loved her every time she wrapped up in it. We both cried that day.


Sandy Erwin quilted this and the panto she used was roses. It was the perfect choice.


The dark red rectangle is a piece of our father's tie. The flower game from a dress our mother made.

Barbara loved many things, but nothing more than her grandchildren. Brandon was her oldest and spent many summers at Coney Island pool with grandma. They were best buddies. These are older pictures but they would be adorable to her. She also had two other grandchildren. They are Jeremiah and then Lilly Anne is the youngest.

Brandon

Lilly Anne - or little Lilly Pad as grandpa calls her

Brandon and Jeremiah watch the cake under their grandpa's watchful eye.

Barbara also loved Christmas. We went way over the top in the house and outdoors too. She loved the lights and shopping for special ornaments each year. We used to laugh that she had enough lights to light up the neighborhood. This is just a sampling.

Barbara was very talented. She was a stained glass artist. In the past few years she found it difficult to cut the glass and gave up making stained glass. She did some wonderful projects.