Quilts
I am the Storm
I have had multiple autoimmune issues my entire life. However, in 2019, my kidneys rapidly went into failure. After being in the hospital for over a week, a renal biopsy confirmed that it was caused by an aggressive form of Lupus.
I can attest that Lupus, named from the Latin word for wolf, truly tears at you. It is relentless. I thought this quilt was the perfect way to mark my second year of survival. I picked purple because it is the color for Lupus. And the eyes? Well, any time I shed tears about not being able to recognize myself, my husband would always respond with, "I still see you in your eyes." So, I made the wolf's eyes the same color as mine. It is my most meaningful quilt to date and hangs in our living room.
Lupus says, "You can't handle the storm."
The warrior in me says, "I AM THE STORM."
QuaranQuilt
I bought this kit from a wonderful shop, Gotham Quilts, while visiting NYC in the spring of 2019. Little did I know, that would be my last plane trip in over five years and counting. I put it away when we got back home, as we often do, and soon after that, I got very sick. Because Lupus was causing my kidney failure, they had to knock out my immune system and quarantine me in my own home. About 5 months later, the Coronovirus hit, and the world went on lockdown with me. Since NYC was getting hit the hardest in the beginning, I decided to pull this kit out and work on it. I ended up completing it by the time the lockdown was done. And so I call this my QuaranQuilt because I made it when we were all on quarantine and wishing for life to resume as normal. Once I completed the top, I took it to a dear friend's house to use her longarm, and it is with this quilt that I learned how to custom quilt. I came home super excited about the results! My husband says that it was then that he knew I needed a longarm.
The One and Only
My sister-in-law was so bright and fun. She started dating my brother when I was about 8 years old, so I barely remember life before her. She was forever on my side and had a way of helping me through the hard things. Family was most important to her, and she loved just sitting around an table and playing games. She had an infectious laugh that still makes me smile when I hear in my head.
We lost her at 41 to a rare and aggressive cancer. My sweet niece, her only child, was about the same age I was when Elaine came into my life. This loss hit our families incredibly hard.
She was a quilter and was notorious for buying fabrics with so much personality. I held onto multiple bins of them, just waiting until the time was right to make something meaningful with them. Just as soon as my niece got engaged, I pulled out her Mama's fabrics and designed this quilt to showcase them. I fussy cut every single piece, and only used each fabric once. I gave it to her at her bridal shower and called it "The One and Only."
Mountains of Love
This quilt was the very first one I made after being too sick to sew for several months. It felt like climbing a mountain, but I was determined to get it done by the time my godboy was born! I dreamed of it being used, along with quilted numbers, to show how much he had grown each month. His mom made sure that I got a pic every month, which still makes me smile.
Side note: Isn't he just the most adorable litte guy ever?!
All Starrs
Although it usually causes me great heartbreak every NFL season, I am a diehard Dallas Cowboys fan. So much, in fact, that I made myself a Dallas Cowboys Star completely out of Moda Grunge fabrics and custom quilted it with everything from footballs to names of some of my favorite players.
I have a cousin who loves them as I do and whole heartedly cheers them on every season. When she started asking about this quilt, I knew I had to make her one! Complete with the Snuggle fabric on the back and the custom quilting, I could not wait to surprise her with this one. Since she is also in the Starr family and there are names of so many of our favorites, this one had to be called "All Starr." No idea how we didn't get caught on their security cameras as we did this photo shoot of it in their shop. But it all was so worth it to see her reaction when I gave it to her!