Guild Challenge 2009

Last post today... I promise.

The challenge for the guild this year was called "Quilter's Paradise." We were given a piece of blue fabric and told to interpret the theme however we wanted. Pretty much no limits.

Quilter's Paradise for me means my mom. I would love to have my mom to quilt with again. But interpreting it into fabric was difficult. I had the challenge fabric for over 4 months and couldn't figure it out.

Here's my quilt. The saying is "Happiness is a good friend and a finished quilt." The blue fabric is the challenge fabric.

So how did I translate my mother into fabric? Simply used her fabrics. These bright fabrics around the challenge piece were all her fabrics. In fact, the only fabric that is "my" fabric is the white and black in the smiley face eyes.
Of course, I also had to use her picture. This is her, maybe in her mid 20s. She was so pretty. She was always pretty. But she never realized it.

This picture is a special memory for me. My mom found a poem called "Pennies From Heaven" sometime during my senior year. Shortly after she passed away, we found tons of pennies. My dad and I were sitting there talking about how many we had found, and just jokingly said, "Momma, if you're there, we really could use some quarters." I think in the next week we got about $4 worth of quarters.

Last week, I was sewing something else, and feeling very down. I said, "Momma, I need some pennies. Say 3 of them?" The next day, I found these three ... in a row.

My mother taught me to sew and to quilt. My mother influenced a lot of my fabric designs. She was my teacher, my encourager, my confidiant, my best friend. This might not be the best quilt ever, but it means so much to me. And that is my "Quilter's Paradise."

Hugs,

Melinda