Memorial Quilt

Generally speaking. people think of a memorial quilt as one with signatures or photos as the foundation for it. I made this quilt top a couple years ago as a sample for my booth at Quilt Shows.

The quilt is a Courthouse Steps variation of a Log Cabin Block. It is a From Marti Michell pattern called Stepping Stones. As usual my quilt doesn't look like the pattern picture.

I had some quality quilting time blocked out and decided to finally quilt it. The evening before I basted and started quilting it, I learned that my 24 year old nephew had died suddenly. 

I basted the quilt and started quilting it. After I'd done all of the stitch in the ditch quilting and the first set of logs I realized that while it is a little on the small side, it was the perfect quilt for my brother and his family. Here's why. The hand dyed fabric is from a collection called Rainbow Zen. Every time I look at the quilt I feel a sense of calm. Stepping Stones seemed like an appropriate design since it kind of symbolizes the steps to healing from such a tragedy.

Once I came to that conclusion, the ideas for quilting it just flowed. I had planned to do different free motion designs in the logs and those ideas came easily. I did a swirl design to start with. When I knew it was going to be a memorial quilt, leaves seemed appropriate to represent life. There are 12 blocks so I chose 12 words that I thought were important to my brother's family and that represented things that will help them through this difficult time and quilted one in the center of each block. I quilted circles in the outside border to symbolize eternity. Here is a picture of the quilting.

"Courage" is quilted into the center of this block

I definitely wanted a special label. I chose pictures from Facebook and a memorial website set up for my nephew because I knew that they had special meaning for the family. I made a collage of those in Word and then added the title of the quilt, "The Path to Healing," and other information I wanted on the label. I printed it on paper to be sure I had good margins around all four sides then I printed it on Printed Treasures Photo Fabric.

There are several treated fabrics on the market. I have had good success with this one and I had some sheets leftover from another project I made a couple years ago. This is the label for the quilt.

There was so much more that I wanted to say about the quilt. I wanted them to know why I chose to give it to them. Why I quilted it the way I did and the symbolism I saw in the fabrics, pattern and quilting. I thought about writing it on paper and putting it in a card but I wanted it to be something that stayed with the quilt so they could look at it over and over again. Then I thought of writing it on paper and putting it in a pocket on the back of the quilt. I was afraid that at some point in time the quilt might need to be washed and if the note was in the pocket it might go through the wash and I didn't want them to have to worry about that. Then I thought about printing it on another sheet of photo fabric. What I finally decided to do is to write it on fabric. A handwritten note seemed so much more personal than a typed note. I used a Micron Pigma Pen because it has a fine point and because the ink is permanent. It is usually my choice for quilt labels. I wrote the message on muslin and used a pinking blade in my rotary cutter to finish the edges. That way I didn't have to turn them under.

Here's a picture of the back of the quilt. There's some pink in the quilt so if my brother and nephew aren't too crazy about that side, the back is nice too. The quilting shows up well so it will have the same symbolism, just on a neutral fabric. I chose some of the fabrics from the blocks to bind the quilt. 

And here's a picture of the front all finished.

This truly was a labor of love. Many a tear was shed during the process and even more when I got the comments from my brother and sister-in-law the day it arrived. They love it and are touched by the love and thought that was put into it. They feel the sense of comfort that I intended.

This quilt is serving the same purpose that a more traditional memory quilt full of pictures and signatures does, but only a little bit of that is incorporated in it. I hope that this will inspire others to realize that any quilt can be a memorial or special occasion quilt.

Happy Quilting,

Carol