Quite a few years ago, a very dear friend of mine died. She left a seven-year-old son. I wanted to do something to help, but lived several hundred miles away. I decided to make him a memory quilt. I used a simple star pattern quilt which had squares in the center of each star, where I placed the pictures. Her husband sent me many pictures to choose from, as well as a box of her colorful nursing scrubs. Because she had chosen her scrubs herself, and wore them daily, they were all familiar to her son, and not surprisingly, they all complimented each other. I knew that the grieving process is difficult for a child, so each of the pictures was covered by four triangles that could be opened to reveal the picture.
His father hung the quilt in the child's bedroom, but he (the child) did not want it there. So it was moved to the father's room. Before long, the child began to visit it, and gradually began to look at the pictures, and finally asked to have it in his room. The other thing that struck me was that working on this quilt was the best thing I could have done to get me through my own grieving process. There were lots of tears, and lots of good memories sewn into it! Clay > >> Memory quilts are made using photos from a given person's life transferred to >> fabric for the quilt. We have gathered photos from around the family, and >> when Lorraine has the quilt others can use it as a starting point for >> conversation, some things she will remember and others she will not. It will >> also serve as a mini family history for her children and grandchildren who >> will not now be able to ask her. 60 is young for an Alzheimers Diagnosis, >> but >> her family seem to have a lot of local support and her middle son, aged 36, >> is >> acting as her carer. >> >> Some people do Memory quilts for significant Anniversarys, 60th for example, >> or significant birthdays. >> >> Lorraine is younger than I am. > - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
