"Leaf….Leaves….Leaving" - My Quilt Guild's Challenge Challenges Me

I have been quilting for more than 30 years, been an active member in guilds in several states but never entered a guild challenge for a quilt show. However, this challenge spoke to me.

My mother died June 25, 2010. I was alone with her, in her hospital room, holding her hand she simply and quietly “left”. It was the moment I came face to face with the realization that there was no one to “mother” me anymore….and there was a big hole in my heart where my mom used to be.

My husband picked me up and as we left the hospital, sad and quiet, something made me look up – to see a huge full moon just peeking out between a few stray clouds. It was so clear – and the “man” in the moon was literally smiling down on me. Ever since, every month, millions of people look up to notice the full moon – but for me, from now on, that’s my mom – smiling down and mothering from afar.

So the title of our quilt guild’s challenge started a process in my brain, remembering, thinking, creating. I walked around for weeks before I was ready to start. All the while one thing kept “bothering me”. My mother-in-law died March 23, 2011. She was so very special and I always told everyone I’d “hit the lottery” when it came to in-laws. So I felt that somehow she should be part of the quilt, but I wasn’t sure how to do it.

Walking my dog around the block one night I looked up, saw the full moon, came home opened the computer and googled to find out the phase of the moon for March 23, 2011. Dave’s mom died on a full moon.

So there it was – the quilt sprang into focus and I assembled it in one afternoon. I printed photos of both of these very special ladies on our printer, used some filters to “grey” the photo to represent each one leaving. I surrounded them with flowers because they both loved nature – and sat the huge full moon right at the top. The quilt is machine quilted on my Bernina, decorative stitching to highlight some aspects and a few three dimensional elements.

I don’t believe in heaven or hell, but I do believe in heart-strings – connections that flow from one person to another – during life and after death. A little “tug” that speaks volumes. A ghost hug, a memory, a moment. Dave and I celebrated our 45^th anniversary in December 2013. It was grey and cloudy all day. We were both fighting colds…so rather than go out to dinner we had a nice meal at our dining room table. My back was to the window when all of a sudden Dave said “Linn, look!” I turned, the clouds parted for just a moment and there she was – the biggest full moon, smiling down on us. Heartstrings stretching and comforting – an anniversary hello from both moms.