When my dear friend Debbie was killed last summer she was working on a quilt. No surprise there, as she was just about always working on a quilt. However, this quilt was for her son and Debbie’s husband asked if Sharon, Lois, Wendy and I would finish it. We agreed, knowing it might be painful at times but also knowing that Debbie would have wanted us to do this.
Debbie had the center squares all pieced and sewn together so we just had to decide on the border and do the final quilting and binding. Lois really pushed us to get it finished, I think she felt the burden of it the most, maybe because it was “living” at her house.
I would have been happy to ignore it for a good long time as facing that quilt was just a little too much like facing my grief. But I was dragged through the process by my friends and now it’s done.
If you know any quilt folklore then you know that the red in the center of a log cabin block represents the hearth or the heart of the home. Since Debbie’s death I have realized that she was truly the heart of our little group so it seems fitting that this last quilt is a Log Cabin design.
The fabric for the piano keys border came from all of our stashes so this quilt is truly a combination of all of us — our efforts, our fabric, our time and our love.
It’s a legacy and an heirloom and completing it is one more act of friendship towards Debbie. I guess it was a gift for all of us, too.