Friday, October 09, 2009

Bloggers Quilt Festival entry


2002 Ocean Waves BOM Sampler

If you link here from the Bloggers Quilt Festival, please leave a comment, thank you!

While this isn’t my most beautiful quilt, it is one that has a lot of meaning to me, and it shows two of my most favorite people in the world, my husband and his Aunt. Yes the same Aunt whose dementia has affected our year so drastically.

But about the quilt.. I am a founding member of the Ocean Waves Quilt Guild here in Lewes Delaware. In the beginning years I was quite active in the guild, holding many jobs including new letter editor, treasurer and BOM chair. In late 2001 and 2002 I challenged the ladies to make a sampler quilt from their BOMs promising that I would do the same with my samples. I used some brighter than normal for me at that time fabrics and made at least two of each block to show them using different colors. The end result was this quilt.

All of the blocks were featured as BOMs on my web site, sharing this project with the www. Several guild members did eventually finish sampler quilts, and a few internet quilters have sent me photos of their samplers also.

This photo shows the quilt on my queen size bed while it was still a UFO. It was put on there for photographing only, and then set aside to await binding. The quilt covers the bed completely and goes to the floor on three sides.


The quilt was finished in 2002, quilted the following year, and then sat unbound in my UFO pile until January of this year, when I set out to finish some of my UFOs. This quilt was finished on January 11th while visiting Aunt Sheryl in upstate NY. We were there visiting her because one of her dear friends had called John saying that Sheryl was having some memory problems and she needed someone to check on her.

Sheryl has always been very special to us, and we have/had a great relationship with her. She is a very special friend who just happens to be related to us. While we were visiting her that weekend we realized she was indeed having some memory problems, and they were quite serious… which was the beginning of the saga that continues to drag on. Alzheimer’s/dementia is cruel, but there are crueler things that make life so complicated.

PS
Seconds after I posted this, and while I was posting my link on Amy’s page my phone rang. It was Aunt Sheryl, who called me looking for a family phone number. This is the first time I’ve heard her voice since June 3rd. She explained to me who she was, "I'm John’s Aunt who used to live in NY", and told me why she was calling… I gave her the number she was looking for and asked her how she was doing. She said “a little fuzzy around the edges” and then a lot more, but stopped and said “oh I don’t need to tell you all this now” She said the most glorious words I’ve heard in a long time, she misses me… and our call was over.

28 comments:

  1. Darn it, some of the stories behind these quilts and of the women who have made them make my cry...yours included. What a beautiful post and the quilt is absolutely stunning! Thank you for sharing!

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  2. This is a beautiful quilt, and your story is both beautiful and heart-wrenching at the same time. I wish you and your family all the best!

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  3. This is beautiful and a wonderful story of your DH's aunt. I hope things continue to go well for her, though I know dementia can be so hard to deal with.
    Thanks for your comments on my blog too. I couldn't respond to it as your email comes up as no reply.

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  4. Anonymous10:06 PM

    Very sad and yet very beautiful. You did great work!

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  5. the quilt looks lovely - especially seeing it on a bed.

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  6. So beautiful! It looks gorgeous on your bed. Thanks for sharing :)

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  7. Your quilt is beautiful. Thanks for sharing the story that goes along with it. Quilts are like that, they always tend to carry a special story that stays with us everytime we look at those quilts. Thanks for sharing.

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  8. How special that you put this sampler together from you teaching at the guild. Now it has a special meaning for you because of the time when you worked on the binding.

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  9. The quilt is gorgeous, but so is the story behind it. My garndfather had Alzheimer's and it can be truly heart breaking to deal with. Thanks so much for sharing your story.

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  10. Anonymous5:04 PM

    Lovely colours in your quilt - and what a story.

    So glad to hear the postscript!

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  11. What a great sampler quilt. Your hubby's aunt is so lucky to have you to look after her.

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  12. Beautiful quilt and I love the story behind it.

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  13. Beautiful quilt. The colors are very soothing. Best wishes to you and your family!

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  14. Some stories are fun and some not so fun. It's tragic that Alzheimers/dementia is stealing our loved ones away from us.

    Love the quilt.

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  15. Such a beautiful quilt and such a touching story. We have dealt with Alzheimer's in our family too. It can be rough. I love the big blocks on your quilt. Thanks for sharing.

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  16. Such a lovely quilt and meaningful too.

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  17. Aunt Sheryl and her story touch me because I have been through it. The quilt is fantastic.

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  18. What a touching story. Alzheimer's is a cruel disease that has hit many family's with devastation. Your story is a tender one and your quilt is really lovely.

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  19. What a special quilt for so many reasons. How sad when age & time start taking our family members from us. Thank you for sharing your story. {{hugs}} And thanks too for visiting my blog! ;)

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  20. This story really touched me because my mother in law whom I was very close to suffered from the same thing and I miss her dearly. This gives me an idea to make a quilt in her memory. What an amazing quilt! Thanks so much for stopping by my blog. I appriate the comments too! :)

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  21. What a gorgeous quilt and lovely story!

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  22. Marge,
    Thanks for sharing your lovely quilt and story. It is hard when a loved one develops Alzheimers- My mother in law has it and it is very hard to see her slip away from us by inches. One of the things that helps my husband cope with the changes is to live in the moment. He has learned to celebrate the special things like an intonation of recognition in her voice. In his mother's case, she has lost a lot of her language so it is difficult to find ways to connect.
    It was kismet that your aunt called just now.
    There are some wonderful quilts that were made for the Alzheimer's Initiative that was started by Ami Simms. She has created a show called Forgetting by the Piece that has a book that is available for purchase. The quilts all have moving stories to go with them.
    Enjoy the show - so many wonderful quilts and stories for viewing.
    Warmest regards from a Western Canadian Quilter,
    Anna

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  23. Wonderful quilt and story

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  24. Hi Marge from another Delaware quilt-lover! Your quilt and story are both beautiful - thank you for sharing!

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  25. Beautiful quilt! I love the colors. I'm trying to work my way through the quilt festival. So many lovely quilts to look at! Thanks for adding the PS to your story.

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  26. It's a beautiful quilt with a moving story behind it. Thank you for sharing your post script with us.

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  27. Beautiful quilt! Yes, dementia is a cruel disease - and so many of our mothers, aunts, sisters, and even children suffer from it. Thank you for sharing your story.

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Thanks for understanding,
Marge