Clawson Quilting Sisters Losses

The Clawson Quilting Sisters have been meeting in the local park this last month. Before that we had Zoom meetings and before that no meetings since the lockdown in early March.

Over these months we have not lost anyone to COVID-19, but there have been losses.

Shirley Williams, a founding member of the group 20 years ago, died June 16 after a stroke. She was 94 years old.

And Lucy Lesperance had a stroke on April 1, which was discovered to be related to brain cancer. She passed away on July 9 at age 85.

Here are some photos of these women and their quilts.

Lucy's quilt Lucy in the Sky with Sapphires appeared in a number of local quilt shows and was juried into the American Quilt Society show at Paducah.

Lucy with her quilt
Lucy in the Sky with Sapphires

Every year Lucy made a quilt to be raffled off at her family Christmas gathering. They were always stunning.

Lucy organized the making of the teapot quilt for the Downtown Abbey Tea Party, which you can read about here.

Lucy at the Downton Abbey tea party with the raffle
quilt she organized

 

Lucy's Cardinal quilt won the CAMEO Guild challenge contest

Lucy in center front with a pie potholder

Shirley Williams was unable to continue her crafting at the level she once did but she found new ways to express her creativity by scanning photos on fabric and making mug rugs.

Shirley Williams and a mug rug, complete with tea bag pocket

In the photo below Shirley holds her quilt of miniature quilts which shows off her high skill level.

The photo above was taken at Shirley's 91st birthday party held by the quilters.

Shirley with blue icing!

Shirley in a vest she made

Shirley with one of her quilts

Shirley often told me the story of falling for a young WWII pilot. She took one look at him, removed her engagement ring, and announced that was the man she was going to marry!

A young Shirley with her husband

He taught her how to fly.

Shirley as a young woman

We don't know when the community center will reopen or when groups will be safe to meet indoors again. But when we do, things will not be the same.

Welcome to Our Sit and Stitch Group

When we retired and moved to Clawson almost four year ago one thing I was eager to do was to join the weekly quilt group which meets at the community center. On any Tuesday you might find a dozen to over 30 gals enjoying socialization, sewing, and sharing their projects.

Several ladies volunteer to take photographs of our projects which are sent out to all members, so snowbirds or others who can't be there every week get to see all the wonderful work being done.

Today I thought I would share some of the recent quilts made by this talented group.

Betty  is one of our most productive members! She is trying to use up her large stash of fabric. The back of her quilts are always interesting.

Last year Betty made this amazing quilt.

One of our newer members, Cheryl, has made quilts for all her nieces and nephews. She is working on some smaller projects now.

Joanne made this wall hanging for a gift. She forgot to give it. So, the question is...will she give it up?

Joanne also makes lots of BIG projects, like this colorful king size quilt!

Joyce created this family album of handprints for an annual gathering. It will be auctioned off and the high bidder takes it home until next year when it will be auctioned off again.

Karen's opus magnum has been a work of love for years. It is FINALLY finished and looks amazing.

 This week Kay brought a quilt from her closet to share. Too cute!

Theresa is passionate about creating. She makes more quilts in a year than most make in a lifetime! The quilt blocks were made by the woman who taught her to quilt. She put them into this setting and hand quilted it all winter.

 AND she put together a Michigan themed quilt top.

 And finished her Sue Spargo wool applique' which she has worked on for weeks.

Over the years I sometimes share the quilts in the library, which mostly come from this group. Last winter Linda had several quilts with real 'wow' factor. Like this Christmas houses one!

Linda loves to use preprinted panels, as in this wintery horse quilt.

 Another wonderful quilt from winter is and embroidered and pieced quilt featuring 'over the river and through the snow' by Sandy.

Judy makes a lot of lovely quilts, too like this one from last year.

 Everyone loved Verna's version of this gardening theme quilt.

 Another spring themed quilt is Linda's birdhouses.

Shirley's Redwork embroidery and pieced quilt from several years ago represented a lot of work.

Sunetra loves all kinds of needlework. She made several versions of this Fiona quilt block pattern.

Our newest member Sue is making her first quilt, a memory quilt for her husband. She used his shirts and is including mementos including badges, ribbons awards, and even a drawing he made.

 Anna's Church Dash is a beautiful example of a traditional quilt.

Alex is new to sewing but is doing wonderful projects such as her stuffed zebra.

Barb is a professional long arm quilter. She is showing her beautiful wool applique quilt top.

Cathy is a teacher but joins us during summer and her breaks.

 Verna shared her colorful houses quilt.

Lucy is working on a Millefilore quilt. 

This year Lucy had her quilt Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds at the American Quilt Society show in Paducah.

I haven't found photos from all the gals, these are just some samples. I am lucky to be a part of the group and to be inspired by them.