Mom's Garden

It is day four of "shelter in place".... a day used to listen to Bach (it might be his birthday), cap my week with a step average of 15,000 a day and finish a quilt I have been envisioning for a few years, just in time for National Quilt Day!

It started as a hanging for mom a lot of years ago.  Finding its way back to me, it hung in the basement sewing room for a number of years....until recently I looked at it and decided it needed a quilt around it!

For those of you who knew my Mom in her last ten or so years, you will know that she always wore rather shapeless longish dresses that she would dress up with great vests and other embellishments.  When I made this hanging, however, that was not the case.  I liked to flatter myself that she liked the hanging so much she dressed like it!  I know, that wasn't the case...but!

Many of my favorite memories of Mom involve a garden.  I still see her in an orange sun dress (also shapeless) barefooted, weeding in the garden as I arrived home from school in the sixties.  Later, after she moved from Fair Oaks to Gig Harbor, WA her garden became a work of art, and she spent most of her days out tickling the earth, this time in rather shapeless overalls.  It became her comfort and respite as Dad fell further into the depths of Alzheimers.

I could try to describe her gardens, but then Mom could do it better.  The Garden is her tribute to her own garden, Mom's Garden includes the newspaper's tribute and her application to become a Backyard Wildlife Habitat complete with maps and plant listings.

Gardening continued after leaving Gig Harbor, her summer home in Roy and her winter home in Sacramento both benefited by her time in the outdoors.  So this quilt is a tribute to her

Mom's Garden
The Finished Quilt - 21 Mar 2020

And a treat....after I first posted this Maura sent me pictures of a couple of her paintings of Mom's Garden.

Be sure to check out Maura Madden Donovan Watercolors  for other paintings by my mega talented sister.