Village Life Quilt: The Memorial One
In my circle of friends, I am one of only two quilters, and of the two of us, I am the one who is known for making memorial quilts. (Purely by concidence, the other quilter is the one holding up the quilt in the picture above.)
I like to say that I don’t like working with clothing as a quilting material, and that’s mostly true (more on that in another post). But despite my love/hate relationship with clothing, I do love making memorial quilts. They are such a lovely way to capture the heart of someone and to feel close to them after they are gone. And while I did once take a commission for a memorial quilt from a client who lived far away, in general I only do memorial quilts for friends and family, and most definitely, emphatically, do not accept payment for them. I know not everyone has access to a quilter to make this kind of gift to them, and so I would never say commissioning a memorial quilt is wrong. But if you have the chance to have one made as a gift, or as a quilter to make one as a gift, I recommend it. There’s something truly special about that kind of gift, given freely, with lots of love. And so, this particular quilt was made for a long-time friend who’s father passed away.
Starting
I’m sad to say that because of life, the universe and everything, that this quilt took far too long to make. I am so grateful that my friend wasn’t in a hurry to receive it. I offered to help her find someone else to make it for her, but she was happy to let me do it in my own time, and this summer I finally was in a time and place where I could complete it.
My friends’ father was a carpenter and built houses for a living, so we chose a house block quilt for her, and I used her fathers’ work shirts and jeans to make the blocks. There are risks to using such a variety of materials in a quilt—the heavy denim and work shirts with standard quilting cotton—there’s a chance that the heavier weight fabrics will pull and stress the lighter weight fabrics and cause the quilt to come apart or the fabric to fail prematurely. But for this quilt my friend said it was worth the risk, and I agree with her. The palette of blues and whites and his shirts and jeans building the houses, the village. It couldn’t be more perfect.
Fabrics
Pattern
For the pattern I used the Village Life quilt from Cloud 9 Fabrics. It’s a free download on their website. I changed the size of the borders to make the quilt more of a standard throw size/shape. In addition to the workshirts and jeans, I used Kona Cotton in Snow for the background, and then used a cozy flannel for the backing. It felt like the right choice for this particular quilt, to be cozy and snuggly for my friend and her family.
Finishing
We chose clamshells for the quilting to mimic the rounded shingles you would see on the gable of a house. My quilter, Pam of Piece Love and Quilting, did a great job though we pushed her machine to the ultimate limit having the shells as small as we wanted. For the binding I considered using strips from the work shirts, but in the end I decided to use regular quilting cotton and found this perfect indigo stripe at my local quilt shop. I love how it turned out.
The quilt finished up beautifully, and once it went through the washer and dryer it was crinkly, cozy perfect. I hadn’t ever considered using a clamshell panto before, but I’m a fan now and look forward to using it again. Sadly for Pam, my quilter, I also fell in love with this size. Sorry, Pam!!
I was able to give it to my friend just after these pictures were taken and she said it was perfect. It felt so good to get it done and given to her. It was time for this project to be finished and for her to finally have the memorial quilt she wanted.
I have to say, also, that I don’t usually work with this color palette. Those of you who’ve been around here awhile know that I’m all about color! COLOR! :-) But this is so pretty and classic I have to say I kind of fell in love with it, and I’m thinking about making something for myself—creamy whites, denim blues and a touch of indigo. Serene and peaceful and feels like summer.
What about you? Do you love or hate working with clothing? How do you feel about blue and white? Come chat with me on Facebook or Instagram, or drop me a line, I would love to hear your thoughts.
