The Saddest March Ever…

My brother Doug was 15 years younger than me, and he died March 19.  He was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer in July 2020.  We knew his death would likely happen before the rest of us.  Still, the impact of his passing is profound. While sewing rhythm was disrupted with visits, it picked up speed during his final days while my brother and sister, along with Doug’s wife, daughter and friends, tended his bedside. The studio became a guest room.  For future reference, I am not very good bedside.  

I was thankful I had this project - a Sloan Travel Bag by Sew Sweetness - to work on for my granddaughter.  It's a complex bag with outer pockets, inner pockets, and a zippered top.  Preparation and assembly require total concentration, a good thing.   Nikki likes warm and light neutrals so this bag was a challenge and a departure from my cool highly-contrasting palette.  I’m very happy with it.

While there were many hospital and home visits and sibling sleepovers, nightly I returned to my hand-quilting project, Shuttle by Glad Hand Sews. My limited palette belies the beauty of this quilt pattern.  I should say that nightly I had to return to this project.  I get even twitchier if I don’t have another project for hand quilting in my queue.  I finished this one just before Doug died.  And immediately I moved on the next quilt.

My low-volume hexagon quilt was already pin-basted.  Starting with an off-center spiral pattern lets me work on automatic pilot. I started hand-quilting as my parents were dying,  after my mom’s death I found the rhythm of the stitching soothing.  I still do.  I will mourn Doug as I finish this quilt and will continue to mourn him in the next project.  And the next.  And these stitchings soothe my soul. 

QuiltCon 2023 - and what caught my eye…

QuiltCon 2023 was in Atlanta.  John’s  daughter lives there.  So we drove down with our ultimate destination being Orlando, where John’s sister and my nephew live.  No total immersion at QuiltCon this year.  Instead, I spent one day there, mostly to hear the keynote speaker Chawne Kimber. I sat with the Chicago group and spoke with a couple of my quilty heroes and spent maybe an hour before the keynote looking at quilts.  Seeing quilts helps me identify what I like and what I’d like to try.  Here are a few of the quilts that  caught my eyes...

Coffee and Cream by Lorraine Woodruff-Long

Watercolor Study no. 12 by Audrey Esarey of cottonandbourbon.com used hand dyed fabrics to create the transparency.  

Another by Audrey Esurary - Crescent Radial

Not What It Seams by Mariah Light.  White fabrics on top of black batting.  The seam allowances create the dimension.

Where We Connect by Cassandra Beaver

Baltimore #2 by Bill Keller, a guild mate of mine, from a class with Nancy Crow.

Nest by Wendy Nutt, fascinating construction

Leaving a Light on For You by the KCMQG.  Herringbone-like patterns fascinate me.

Storm in the Mountains by Rob Lowe, a Santa Fe quilter whose studio I've been in.  

Leon, another by Rob Lowe, was inspired by a concert hall in Leon, Spain.

But I received a text from my sister midway through the lecture that my brother was in the hospital. Cue: emotional hijacking.  My one day at QuiltCon became three hours - Julie picked me up shortly thereafter.   Despite my brother's hospitalization, both he and my sister insisted we continue our trip to Orlando. And we did.  But we headed home one day early and did the drive in two days.  My unease continued throughout the trip.  We got home March 2, and the rest of this month has been a blur.