Quilting the Green Star: Vintage quilt returning home

It has been a sad month for me, as Kitty, my elderly Godmother has come to the end of her life. She was also my mother's best friend and they supported each other faithfully throughout marriage, childbirth, sadness, happiness and bereavement.Growing up, I remember her matter-of-fact love for me. Birthdays always remembered with a card and book token, letters in her careful handwriting, marking events, telling me of her visitors, full of encouragement for me when required. As I grew older, she was there for my wedding, to celebrate the birth of my children and even recently, my grand daughter, sending a carefully knit teddy bear. By now she was nearly 100 years old but her mind was still so sharp. Here is the quilt I made for her many years ago, now it has come home to me again...

Kitty's quilt

Kitty was very independent and could be fierce if she thought I was spoiling her. She often told me off for presents I sent and so began the Amaryllis War. Every Christmas I would send her an Amaryllis bulb in a pot, she would open the parcel and then phone to tell me off! I would protest and tell her I would send presents if I wished, feeling rather a stroppy teenager sensation. Then she would phone again to marvel at it's growth and even send a photo...it always sent me into fits of giggles.

4 blocks of Kitty's quilt

Her practical demonstration of her faith in God was always there. I never heard her give way to self pity or loneliness. When my daughter moved to Singapore, Kitty was again on the phone, remembering how she coped when her own daughter emigrated to New Zealand fifty years ago. No Skype or e mails then, only letters and parcels which took six weeks to arrive, so I must be brave. Her dignity and strength was a huge inspiration to me, along with her quiet acceptance of life's sometime sadness.

Kitty's quilt with honeysuckle

Kitty was a skilled gardener who tended who tended her friends and family as carefully as her plants and I will miss her so much. These are the words of William Lawson that I chose for her:

'Cultivate the garden within. What was Paradise? But a garden, an orchard of trees and herbs, full of pleasure and nothing but delights.'

I hope she has found a sunny spot there with a beautiful quilt to sit on.