Great Lakes Beadworkers Guild

Quilt Squares Bead Quilt by Great Lakes BeadWorkers Guild

Great Lakes Beadworkers Guild - Memory Quilt Page 1

It’s been a year in the making. The GLBG beaded quilt, made in memory of Barb Davis, a long-time GLBG member, is finished and ready to be revealed at the January 16th, 2007 meeting. As many of you know, Barb succumbed to breast cancer in 2001. Many will remember that Yvanne Ham introduced the memorial quilt project at the 2006 January meeting. She suggested that the Guild make a beaded quilt and dedicate it to the memory of Barb Davis. If the quilt were sold, all proceeds would go to cancer research and/or support for cancer survivors. The project took off. The result is a genuine work of art.

The inspiration path for this project is interesting. Inspired by the beaded quilts that Jeanette Shanigan and the Mat-Su Valley Bead Society posted on the Internet, Liz Thompson forwarded a quilt photo to the Programming committee just as an FYI. Yvanne Hamm picked up on it and recommended that Programming make it a GLBG group project. Using Yvanne’s design and guidance, the quilt project took form. All year, members were given to opportunity to bead a 2 inch by 2 inch beaded square which were sewn into one larger quilt. 84 members participated and the final dimensions are 3 feet by 5 feet, with a weight of 16 pounds!

This quilt project was extremely popular. Many people wanted to participate in honoring Barb Davis, even those who never had the opportunity to meet her. The GLBG Board of Directors sends a heartfelt “thank you” to all who participated. This is our best group project to date. It just feels good to honor Barb in such a beautiful way and in a way that Barb would have loved. (written by Pat Wiley)

Photos courtesy of Frank Pettis (frankpettisphotos@yahoo.com) and edited by Liz Thompson. Thank you to Jeanette who took the time to match squares and names together!