I had the opportunity to work with a chapter of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. It seems that during this year I have been focused on information about suicide, as it has touched our lives and community. Working on this quilt was poignant. Seeing the beautiful photo blocks of special family members was sad because you think about the victim and, also, the surviving family and friends.
I’ve read countless articles this past year about mental illness and suicide. The death of Robin Williams was shocking to us. The rate of suicide has not changed since 1965. This is a sad statistic. The issue of suicide on college campuses is a concern. There are also some bright lights, such as the zero suicide goal of the Henry Ford Health System. There is work to be done.
For the design of this quilt, I was duplicating an existing quilt for the Chapter. This entailed a lot of back and forth with my client on colors and fabric selections, sizes of various blocks and borders and embroidery. My client printed the photo blocks and the four Baltimore blocks.
This was a large, challenging project. The quilt is about 64″ x 94″ and it has tabs for hanging. It is also a traditional quilt with batting. I mainly quilted around the squares so as not to interfere with the photo block. It was also a rewarding project and I am grateful for the opportunity to create such a meaningful quilt.
