Last June, my parents and two sets of my dads siblings celebrated their 50th year of marriage! Three sets of family members all celebrating a 50th anniversary in the same year! It was amazing! My dad has 10 siblings living still out of 11. Its a big Christmas party or Anniversary party!
One of the other families children were able to finish a quilt for their parents in time to present it on their actual anniversary! I however am not quite that organized, and please keep in mind that I do most of my quilting in 15 minute increments! So as we went through the year, I thought about the best way to develop a quilt that a lot of people could participate in, and that would be unique and unusual while still maintaining the status of "Anniversary Quilt".
This is the story quilt developed for my parents to honor their 50 years together. The above photo shows my folks displaying it in their yard where they host other weddings. The quilt tells the story of their life together in fabric and blocks. I chose blocks that spoke to where they met and where they were from, and some of their life together (I still have to design a pattern called "cookie fight").
If you start at my mothers right hand (the top one) and go down the quilt toward her feet you can follow the story. Below is the label that gives all the information and was applied to the back of the quilt. It reads like this:
50
years of marriage – a story quilt:
Doug
and Florene Carney
June , 1963 to June 29, 2013
50
years ago the Ohio Star (Overstreets) became Best Friends (Larissa Cummings)
With
the Southern Belle (Patricia Parker) and took the Steps To The Altar (Kim
Carney)
As
the Wheel Of Time (Nan Williams) went by, and a few moments of Contrary Wife
(Alicia McRoberts)
The
Tru Blue (Karen Carney) Union (Cynthia Buzby) built the Snowfire Gardens (Char
Pine)
With
Wind Art (Janelle and Rachael) Double Pinwheel (Shirley Washut)
And
Cups and Saucers (Linda Thomas) held together by an Irish Chain (Humphreys)
The italics indicate the maker of that particular block. My dad is from Ohio and my mom is originally from the Southwest, she collects teacups and he designs wind art. Their home is called Snowfire Gardens, you get the gist.
A different member of our family did each of the blocks that are using the fireweed fabric (fireweed is big here in Alaska), and I made the Irish Chain blocks. It was machine quilted by Carol Hill - the only person to work on the quilt who is not a family member, but we love her anyway!
It came together really well even if it was presented on their 51st (ish) anniversary. Some folks who saw the quilt before it was presented spoke of the time invested in the making of the quilt and I could never fathom how they could even think about the time invested in the quilt itself when the marriage has been going on for more than 50 years! I am not yet 50 years old so I cannot possible imagine what 50 years feels like but it feels wonderful to know that it is possible to make things work for that long!
Be happy and be creative and Be Blessed!
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