2025, Gatherings, Uncategorized

Quilts

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Last Sunday, we sang in the choir at the 9:30 service, and were acknowledge for 38 years of musical service to the church in both the choir and bell choir. They even had a God’s Speed blessing for us, which I had no idea they were going to do. After that, we were expected to sing a choir anthem all about leaving and journeying. It is awfully hard to sing when you are choked up.

We have committed quilters in our various musical groups, and they gifted us with a queen size quilt with musical motifs. It is gorgeous, and you can see it in the header photo. As soon as I took the photo, our dog jumped on the quilt and snuggled in, claiming it for his own.

What motifs would be on a quilt someone made for you to commerate your work and life? How do you keep yourself from crying?

27 thoughts on “Quilts”

  2. What a beautiful quilt and thoughts to say how they have appreciated you over the years. I wish you an uncomplicated move (or at least you get thru the inconveniences). You are brave and resilient, both of you!

    As a physician I am not sure what kind of motifs I would like to reflect my work. I also love music so that or gardening/flowers would be preferred. I tend to try not to cry so my expression is brief but with a few tears and a scrunched up face. My best crying is during Call the Midwife, for some reason.

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  3. What a lovely send-off and gift! Now you’ll have something to remember all of those people by.

    Making a quilt out of t-shirt fabric is challenging because of the stretchy polyester-cotton blend from which most t-shirts are made. I have a large plastic tote full of Rock Bend t-shirts. I no longer wear most of them, but I can’t part with them. Our dear friend, Rose, passed away. She was the quilter. I know other quilters, but none who are willing to make me a Rock Bend t-shirt quilt. One offered to teach me how to quilt and I could do it myself. I have no sewing talent whatsoever, and even less inclination, so I silently nixed that idea.

    I’d also like music motifs, as well as knitting and crocheting.

    If I’m going to cry, I’m probably going to cry. I swallow hard and blink, but that’s usually ineffective.

    Best wishes with the move, Renee!

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  4. Not that we need any more quilts but if someone were to make me one, I would want it to be colorful, dynamic, and probably asymmetrical. Not thematic though. I would prefer not to be summarized that way.

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  5. Rise and Shine, Baboons,

    Renee, I do not envy you all the good-byes coming your way in the upcoming weeks. But what an act of love from your quilter friends this quilt is. I would want a quilt that is a large flower, maybe an echinacea or a morning glory. Many people have passed traditional quilts on to me. Therefore, this one would need to be an art quilt, uniquely designed. One of my childhood friends is an active quilter. She won a contest put on by a quilt shop in Brainerd. She designed a Monarch Butterfly that is one of a kind. It is just spectacular.

    I have never been able to staunch my tears. I cannot help you with that.

    OT; there is a puppy chewing on my shoelaces right now. Meanwhile, I am awaiting a call from my husband’s dentist. The dental office has apparently lost his front dental plate on which they were to add an additional front tooth, but when Lou and his aide went to pick it up, it has apparently been mysteriously lost in the mail.

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  6. Would quilt designs be like what you want your tattoo to be? Or the image on a gravestone? I feel like I want my life to be so much more than one image…
    So, John Deere tractors, lighting fixtures or lighting consoles.. but how would it portray that one perfect lighting look? Or that sunset / sun rise with all the colors and wisps of clouds or ground fog…
    Sorry, got too deep there.

    I’m not much for quilts. We’ve got several in a closet downstairs… they’re far too hot for me to sleep with.

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  7. I once made my mom a quilt in colors she liked at the time, that had some fabric pieces from some of her 1950s-60s dresses, etc. It was really fun to see her reaction..

    I guess I wouldn’t mind a music one like this, or maybe birds, though you don’t usually see birds in fabric… Birds, cats, and dogs would be fun…

    I don’t even try to stop tears anymore, and at this point everyone I know well knows they can expect me to tear up at almost anything.

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  8. I love quilts and I love designs that look like quilts. I have a couple of shirts with quilting motives. Quilt design for me could be anything — gardening, books, anything having to do with my crafting, dogs, cats, dragons. The list goes on and on. I’m actually starting to think about a new quilt for my bedroom. The one I have is many years old and it’s starting to show wear and tear. I’ll have to save up some money for a fat, comfy, pretty one!

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  9. I’m not very good at keeping from crying. Kind of got to the point in my life where if I cry, I cry. Anybody who has a problem with that can get over themselves.

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  10. Yeah, we talked the other day about the dogs dying movies…
    But you know what’s weird? I figured I’d never be able to read anything at mom’s funeral. And when she died I thought I’d be a mess. But no, just sad. I didn’t cry much. I think it was just a relief. For all of us and maybe mostly her.

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  11. That’s a beautiful quilt, Renee. One of my mom’s greatest treasures is a quilt her aunts made for her when she got married, almost 70 years ago. It’s made of clothing scraps, and I used to love to look at all the different designs when I was supposed to be taking a nap.

    I don’t think I’d like a quilt that just showed hobbies; it might get kind of boring. Lots of beautiful, interesting colors, textures, and prints would make my ideal quilt.

    Unfortunately, I have no advice on crying. I cry a lot. Sad movies, happy movies, books, music, you name it. I even get choked up at work sometimes. It’s embarrassing.

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  13. Crying is not a sign of weakness, no need to repress it.

    Like Julie, lot’s of different emotions will bring me to tears. Tears of sadness, tears of joy, and for me, especially lately, tears of rage.

    When something moves me deeply, I cry. A beautiful piece of music will start the waterworks, and I have a hard time making it through the last paragraph’s of Capote’s “A Christmas Memory” without choking up.

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  14. You have to feel sympathy for people who are asked to sing or speak or give an interview, and dissolve into tears.

    When Paul Wellstone died, Pete Domenici was supposed to be on a live news program talking about their friendship, He started to cry and couldn’t finish the interview.

    Then there is this song – Vince Gill wrote it for his father originally. He was asked to perform it at a memorial concert for George Jones. Patty Loveless had to take over for him.

    https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=go+rest+high+on+that+mountain+george+jones+funeral

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  15. congrats on establishing such strong and heartfelt relationships. ill bet lavurne will be more of the same.
    music is the choir and bell chiors take . gardening, terrier owner, foodie, play therapy quilts could each be stacked with the music. i would get a movie goers quilt a guitar night piano lesson grandpa card game blogger podcaster artist start up entrepreneur delivery driver international product developer snd hat guy quilt
    crying … i love crying at the movies. ill see about crying at funerals etc. i couldnt do a stand up at my dads. i was ok at vinnys. we will see.
    happy new life renee. it will be be fun to hesr about as it happens

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  16. My wife is a major-league quilter and would definitely approve of your quilt, Renee. If someone made me a quilt to honor me, I hope it would have minky on the back side. As far as a theme on the front goes, musical notes would be fine, or jazz instruments, or silhouettes of jazz musicians. Maybe some hearts, or a peace sign, or books, whatever. Oh yeah! And a golf club or two! 🙂

    Any gifted quilt is quite an honor. I know firsthand how many dozens of hours it takes to make one, and how expensive they can be if one buys new fabric. Paying someone to machine quilt the material is also quite expensive but worth it if you want a complex or consistent quilting stitch. My sister bought a long-arm quilting machine and quilts other people’s projects. Cost can be $250 and up depending on the size of the quilt and complexity of the design.

    I cry most listening to music. If I watched more “feel-good” movies, I’d cry more because happy endings make me happy and stir my crying impulse. Don’t tell anyone, but I bawled like a baby (albeit silently) at the end of “Top Gun: Maverick.”

    Great music always sets me off too. Driving home from a writers’ conference in Wisconsin on Sunday, I listened to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony on WPR. Of course, I air-conducted it all the way through. At the end of the piece, on cue, as I cut off the final note in perfect sync with the conductor, I cried tears of joy and beauty. And I’ll cry over my favorite pieces over and over again. I never get jaded by telling myself I’ve heard it too many times to get emotional. Don’t make me estimate how many times I’ve cried listening to “Over the Rainbow” by Eva Cassidy! 😉

    It’s healthy to cry because you’re letting yourself feel real, true, pure emotion. Nothing wrong with that. Isn’t that why we get up daily and go out into the world? To FEEL something? Anything. Better than feeling rage and screaming at people or pulling out the AK-47 and shooting up a mall.

    Chris in Owatonna

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