Lavender Sampler from 1979

This is my mother, Alice, this last Christmas. She has Parkinson's disease and lives in an assisted living facility. She will be 89 in three weeks. My mother cannot walk anymore, she cannot get in and out of bed by herself , she cannot bathe herself or dress herself. At times, she struggles with eating and shakes and slumps. BUT, my mother can wheel herself to her computer and write poetry. She just published her second poetry book.( Daydreams, Circle of Love) http://www.mainstreetrag.com/store/OtherPubs.php. Inspite of her shaky hand, her creative brain is working very well, thank you very much. She is a poster woman for resilience and positive attitude and playing a poor hand well. When I want to whine about my aches and pains, I think of my mother and remember that attitude is a choice.


This is a quilt that I made for her years ago. She had it on her bed when she lived in Phoenix and continues with it on her bed here in Charlotte at her assisted living. She is one of my biggest fans and has my quilts hanging on the walls in her room. I am one of her biggest fans too.

I am not crazy about this quilt because I think that the workmanship is poor, but it was a beginning quilt.

At first I so hesitated to show you this. So why am I...well my mother loves it and I had given it to her. I just took it home to wash it and decided to take a picture of it for the record here. It is one of the first quilts I made. I took a beginning class from Irene McLaren in Miami at the new quilt store back then, Quiltworks in 1979. These are the sample blocks. I do not mind the blocks as they are all hand applique, but I choose a lace blend for the background which is now pilling. Then I chose a lavender gingham blend instead of 100% cotton and the batting is all clumping from such little quilting in the lattice and border. It does remind me of how far I have come. But, my mother loves it, so I am showing it to you.