A Memory Quilt: Deciding on a Design

I recently took on a commission quilt. It is a memory quilt, made from the clothes of a much loved father. His daughter is an avid photographer and her father was an avid gardener.

Photograph by Cheryl Cornwell

She wanted his clothes to become a quilt as a gift for her mom.

I love choosing designs, but struggle when it is for someone else. She and I played the like/don't like game by email. I would send a few pictures from my Pinterest boards and she would let me know if she liked them. I thought that would narrow it down quickly. And it did help. I learned that she preferred a repeating block design rather than a big overall statement. She wanted traditional rather than modern.

We met one afternoon and she sent me home with this trunk full of clothing.

There was one design that she said she loved right away, and it is one I had made before. But to my eye, it had more of a contemporary feel to it. We looked a little more and then she just said it...I trust you to choose a good design for this.

At first, I was determined to be super traditional and had shown her a pinwheel block which she liked and remembered from quilts growing up. But I was not feeling very settled about it.

I went back and looked again at the first design she liked. I did some further searching to see if I could find other finished quilts in that design. And I did, along with a name for the block. Garden Fence. That is when I knew this was the one I would do. I drew out the block and cutting instructions right away.

I know very little about her father, but I do know that he loved his garden. And now I know that this will be the perfect quilt for her mom and the whole family to remember him by.

Photograph by Cheryl Cornwell
"My dad. Never a Boy Scout, but always prepared, nonetheless. He strategically placed three old rusted metal chairs 10 yards apart, from his garden to the back door, in case he needed to sit a spell while going back and forth. Think I'll sit a spell myself."

I am looking forward to getting started on this project. It is a special privilege to be able to play a small part in preserving these memories.