Watercolor quilting

Mom's cross

I am not a quilter. I do like to sew when I have time, but I am not at all, in any way, experienced. My mother, on the other hand, is amazing. She has made wedding dresses, hand-smocked dresses for me when I was little, and has ventured into watercolor quilting in the last ten years. I love seeing a quilt being designed. She pins it to the wall, and then she plays with little squares like they are splashes of paint you can move around. Each fabric might represent something, or she might just want a particular shade or feeling in the whole. The end result? An impressionist painting in fabric.

My favorite project of Mom's has been made since she moved here. Her church's banner committee found her out, and they asked if she would make crosses for the window in one of the chapels. She began her fabric choosing, fretting over this value of green and that. The muttering began, too. "The center has to be bright and full of life, with the colors growing darker and deeper as they move to the edges." She says these things with such confidence, knowing that she's right.

When Mom moved here, she was very ill and understandably upset. She didn't want to move, but she lived in a very expensive place where she couldn't afford to live anymore. It almost broke her heart. Over the last three-and-a-half years, I have watched her body strengthen, her spirits revive, and our relationship strengthen. I never thought I would see her create and design again, but she is. Wow. I am so grateful.

Her next project? She wants to make a quilt for us!! The design team (the two of us) has already met for a good look through her favorite books:


Watercolor Quilts



Watercolor Impressions : Quilts Inspired by the Bestseller Watercolor Quilts

and all we need to do now is select the wall on which it will hang. Then, the muttering and piecing will begin. She'll need more alone time than usual, and we will honor that. She is free to raid my too-big-for-a-rookie-seamstress stack of fabric, and I will gladly tote her around to the quilt shop for anything she is missing. Let the creativity begin!