Finished quilt Mom with Dementia started
The stories that a quilt tells. My mom was a life long sewist and when she retired about 5 years ago she took up quilting. What we didn't realize, was that she had early dementia and was struggling. She always told me she was on Missouri Star Quilt's website and would explain in detail the different quilts and techniques she was watching on Jenny's videos. Every time I would go to visit, she would show me fabric she had ordered from MSQ, but I never saw any completed projects. I really started wondering if she was actually sewing anything in her sewing room. This summer my brother started to pack her sewing room so that they could move her and my dad. He kept calling me and telling me she had lots, and lots and lots of fabric. As a fellow quilter, I questioned the amount, lol. You can not believe my surprise when I went to help. There were boxes upon boxes of brand new MSQ fabric; yardage, precuts galore, every ruler imaginable, templates, and so many Deals of the Day. But the biggest surprise was finding quilt tops in various stages but there were no completed quilts. I packed up the projects and tried to search through the boxes for fabric to complete each project. It was like looking for needles in a haystack....that much fabric. With her dementia, my mom's day is spent with some her beloved MSQ fabric stash. There are stacks and piles covering the living room couch that she continually looks at, folds, and touches throughout the day. I wanted her to have a quilt out of her beloved fabric that brings her so much joy each day.
I found this quilt top that she had started started with an MSQ Deal of the Day. She also had the coordinating panel but I could only find a few scraps, smaller than a 5 inch square, leftover from the center piece she had done. I was trying to decide how to use the peacock panel and the started quilt top she had started to make her a full size lap quilt that she could curl up with since she loved this fabric so much. Using her stash, I added the skinny black border from a honey bun, another row of scraps I cut from around the peacock panel, and then the black sashing from a layered cake. After weeks of searching online to find the out of print fabric line to go with the panel for the back of the quilt, I found a coordinating line from the same designer at a local fabric store! Mom said she was drawn to the purples in the quilt so I went with purple quilting and accent fabric. I named the quilt "Two Birds of a Feather" in honor of two generations completing the quilt. My mom was in tears and kept saying she couldn't believe she had an heirloom quilt. But like so many others, it was like twisting her arm to actually USE the quilt instead of folding it carefully and just looking at it.
I found this quilt top that she had started started with an MSQ Deal of the Day. She also had the coordinating panel but I could only find a few scraps, smaller than a 5 inch square, leftover from the center piece she had done. I was trying to decide how to use the peacock panel and the started quilt top she had started to make her a full size lap quilt that she could curl up with since she loved this fabric so much. Using her stash, I added the skinny black border from a honey bun, another row of scraps I cut from around the peacock panel, and then the black sashing from a layered cake. After weeks of searching online to find the out of print fabric line to go with the panel for the back of the quilt, I found a coordinating line from the same designer at a local fabric store! Mom said she was drawn to the purples in the quilt so I went with purple quilting and accent fabric. I named the quilt "Two Birds of a Feather" in honor of two generations completing the quilt. My mom was in tears and kept saying she couldn't believe she had an heirloom quilt. But like so many others, it was like twisting her arm to actually USE the quilt instead of folding it carefully and just looking at it.
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