Dad's Quilt earns special recognition

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Published on Sunday, June 14, 2015

Beverly Dean with “Dad’s Quilt”

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The Neepawa Banner

In 1992 my father-in-law was diagnosed with a condition which would keep him housebound for the last years of his life. He became very despondent and lost all will to live; just sitting for hours  in a chair in front of the TV waiting to die. The family tried to find something he could do which would bring him out of this depression  - we tried puzzles, paint by number art, cards and any crafts we could think of to stimulate him, to little avail.

I am an avid needleworker and on holidays dragged my husband into a needlework shop with me. While he was waiting for me to make my purchases he spotted a counted cross stitch kit with a picture depicting a baby giraffe looking up at a parent giraffe with the caption “Everyone Needs Someone to Look Up to”. On impulse he decided that might just be what Dad needed to try to keep himself occupied and give him a reason to continue getting up in the morning.

At first Dad was reluctant to begin the kit but his daughter encouraged him to give it a try and taught him the basics of counted cross stitch. By the time he had completed the feet of the giraffe he was well and truly hooked!  Every birthday, Christmas and Father’s Day which followed saw him receiving presents of pattern books, floss, needles and fabric on which to cross stitch.  Over the next few years he completed a great number of embroidered pictures which Mum learned to rinse out, press on a towel and place in acid free albums for easy viewing. As the pile of albums grew so did Dad’s enthusiasm to complete the next picture, then the next and the next!  He was never happier than when he was sitting figuring out which picture he wanted to do next and even got to the point where he was choosing his own colours for the designs.

Everyone who visited the house was treated to a viewing of the albums of completed pictures. He was justly proud of his accomplishments and we were so pleased that his final years were filled with so much happiness despite ill health.

Sadly, Dad passed away in 1996 shortly after we emigrated to Canada but we learned that Dad had instructed that we receive his many albums of completed pictures. I decided the best  way to enjoy them would be to use them in quilts so I set about making quilted wall hangings for each of his grand-children and great grand-children and  his daughter. For my husband I made this memory quilt from many of the animal pictures which were his particular favourites.

As quilters we try to wrap those in our world with blankets of love and that is what I have tried to do with Dad’s Quilt.