Winter is the perfect time to take some bright and beautiful fabrics out of the closet and complete a long awaited quilt! That’s just what I did with my “Jamaican Mama” quilt. While attending Pacific International Quilt Festival with my friends, Sandi and Michelle, I purchased these beautiful fabric panels portraying Jamaican women in ordinary daily life doing tasks to care for their families. Then later that fall to celebrate Rich’s 50th birthday we took our family on a cruise and one of the five countries we visited was Jamaica. This quilt is made in memory of that wonderful time we shared. In Jamaica, our youngest son, Andrew proposed marriage to our now daughter-in-law, Cara. What a fabulous time it was to be included in that great event! Watching him go down on one knee in front of everyone on the cruise ship during dinner brought tears to my eyes. It brought me joy when Andrew gave me the honor safekeeping that gorgeous ring from our first meeting in the Dallas airport until he proposed 5 days later. Each day we waited in anticipation wondering when he would ask for the ring! So, this cruise commemorates a beautiful time in our lives and the choice of the Jamaican Mama’s is particularly fitting as that trip was all about family.
The quilt was an exercise in design for me as I just “winged it” and created the curved pieced frames around each panel followed by the appliquéd words and the blocks and borders. No pattern, no plan. The panel on the left depicts two mothers washing laundry with their babies strapped to their bodies and the panel on the right shows them coming back from market with their wares strapped onto their heads!! Wouldn’t you love to have their physical strength?? I love the beautiful representation of their joy while lovingly doing their chores. I imagine like all mothers everywhere many of their thoughts as they worked were filled with wishes for their children and their futures. Thus, I created the reverse appliquéd words, “Joy • Love • Wish”. I will be winging it again when I complete the quilting!! Another learning exercise, as I don’t usually quilt anything of this size. Every quilt deserves a label that includes the date of completion, the name of the maker (me), and the reason for the quilt. I plan to put the date of the trip it commemorates and it will say, “Making this quilt reminds me of mothers, all kinds, from all lands. We are all the same. We find joy in taking care of our families, we wish and dream for our children’s futures, and we love with all our hearts.”
The quilt was an exercise in design for me as I just “winged it” and created the curved pieced frames around each panel followed by the appliquéd words and the blocks and borders. No pattern, no plan. The panel on the left depicts two mothers washing laundry with their babies strapped to their bodies and the panel on the right shows them coming back from market with their wares strapped onto their heads!! Wouldn’t you love to have their physical strength?? I love the beautiful representation of their joy while lovingly doing their chores. I imagine like all mothers everywhere many of their thoughts as they worked were filled with wishes for their children and their futures. Thus, I created the reverse appliquéd words, “Joy • Love • Wish”. I will be winging it again when I complete the quilting!! Another learning exercise, as I don’t usually quilt anything of this size. Every quilt deserves a label that includes the date of completion, the name of the maker (me), and the reason for the quilt. I plan to put the date of the trip it commemorates and it will say, “Making this quilt reminds me of mothers, all kinds, from all lands. We are all the same. We find joy in taking care of our families, we wish and dream for our children’s futures, and we love with all our hearts.”
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