In early September, 2003, I was approached by a gentleman with a request. His wife had died the previous year, and he wondered if it would be possible to have quilts made for his children using his wife's clothing. He and the children, ages 10 months to 11 years, had selected garments and sorted them into bags for each child.

I decided that each quilt would be made using the same basic block, symbolizing the family, and that the basic block needed to showcase the garments selected by the children which ranged in fiber content from flannel to wool, raw silk, nylon, lycra, shetland, cashmere, denim, cotton sweaters, and a wide variety of knits. The techincal aspects of the project involved determining both a pattern and a construction method that would stand the test of time, dry cleaning, and the stress of daily use.

Flannel was selected to back each quilt to keep the quilts soft and cuddly. A few additional fabrics were added to the children's garment choices in order to unify the colors of the garments, and to round out the design. Each finished quilt is 45" X 60", standard crib/lap quilt size.

The quilts were completed in time for presentation to the children, upon the one-year anniversary of their mother's death.