This is the second of two posts featuring four of the eight memorial quilts I made for a family in Utah in honor of their beloved Bianca.

Here is the link to the first post, Bianca’s Quilts: Sunflowers and Bees

Bianca passed away in October of 2023, and her daughter Megan began searching for a way to transform her mother’s amazing collection of fashionable garments into remembrance pieces. My work caught her eye, and thus began a six-month, eight-quilt assignment to commemorate Bianca’s life and exuberant spirit.

As the daughter of Italian immigrants, the symbol of an olive tree reminded Bianca of her Italian roots. Her daughter-in-law Tennille and her husband David both requested an olive tree pattern which was great fun to create. I began with David’s.

Rather than a solid-colored trunk, I felt that both trunk and branches should be enlivened with pattern. This red/brown crinkle plaid dress was perfect.

I also wanted to contrast the warm red trunk with cool blue/green leaves. The olive shapes came from a dark maroon print on one of the blouses.

I like to use an alternate stitching pattern rather than regular zig-zag when I appliqué leaves and natural forms.

Here is the final quilt, followed by a detail showing the wind-inspired quilting pattern.

When I started Tennille’s Olive Tree, I already had the perfect trunk fabric in mind. Bianca had this very unusual wool scarf that was embellished with hand-stitched yarn. I also wanted the two Olive Tree quilts to feel different from each other, so I chose lots of warm tones for the leaves this time.

And a mossy olive green blouse for the olives.

The border is made up of all the different leaf fabrics. I liked being able to showcase larger areas of each printed pattern.

Here is the final quilt.

I had been waiting to find the right quilt in which to include some of the embroidered sections of the magenta plaid shirt. This border offered the perfect opportunity.

And here’s a detail of the tree trunk with its chunky yarn stitching.

Bianca’s daughter Carly wasn’t the only family member who curated their own palette for their quilt. Bianca’s husband David requested a red, white, and blue quilt with a stars and stripes theme.

What was so great about this particular assignment was that within each color, there was lots of variety in shade, print, and texture.

This was one of the garments that had a pinned note from Megan asking for it to also be included in her quilt if there was some left over. I love this print. Check out my previous post, Bianca’s Quilts: Sunflowers and Bees, and see if you can spot this print in Megan’s Sunflower quilt!

Megan had sent me some images of quilts with a stars and stripes theme. We worked back and forth until we landed on one she loved. And then it was all about measuring, measuring, measuring!

I loved these string-pieced triangles – they reminded me of a geometric snake.

This is part of the larger center area with a border of stars.

And here is the entire center, tipped 45 degrees and ready for the diagonal triangle borders.

Here is the final quilt, followed by a detail.

The quilting pattern also had stars and flowing banners.

For the eighth and final quilt, I needed to come up with a design that kept the blocks and pieces fairly small because all the fabrics I had to use were left over from seven previous quilt tops.

In my years of working with those who are grieving, there is a theme that threads through many conversations: that is, the sense of comfort people feel as they gaze into the night sky and imagine their loved one inhabiting the heavens. I thought it would be nice for this final quilt to reflect that sentiment. Instead of a regular old starry sky, I thought I’d create a whole solar system!

These were all of the foundational blocks laid out first, creating a warm, light center.

I had to get out my primary-school compass (yes, I still have it!) to draw all the planets in graded diameters.

Bianca had this amazing fire red skirt that was very 70’s – perfect for the center of her solar system. (It also figured prominently in David’s Stars and Stripes quilt just above)

Like a few other fabrics, I had been waiting to use this bold black and white print and was so happy it had a place in the final quilt.

I’m not sure there was a more electrifying combination of colors and patterns in any of the other quilts than in the center of this one.

Here is the final quilt, followed by a detail. (can you see the ‘asteroid belt’ towards the outside of the quilt?)

The quilting pattern was meant to reflect how spacial curves are often illustrated in scientific diagrams.

Once again, I would like to extend my heartfelt appreciation to Megan and her family for embarking on this project with me. My hope is that it brought warm memories and a sense of comfort to everyone who received a quilt. My only regret is that I was not able to meet Bianca in person to share in her bright light.