This quilt celebrates the slendor of matrimonial love. It has similarities to a marriage in that constructing it was a journey filled with great joy, daily struggles and ultimately great satisfaction in my accomplishments. Created in the fall of 2002, this quilt took 3 and 1/2 months to make, including 100 hours of machine quilting on my home sewing machine.
The fabrics I chose determined the theme of the piece. The subtle colors and gentle feel of the floral fabrics gave a romantic elegance to the original layout. I drew from what I knew about love and based my design on the courtship and 60-year marriage of my parents for inspiration. As a child, I often heard the stories of how they met at a dance at Springfield Corners. They fell in love in the early 1940’s and like so many other couples at the time, spent four years of their engagement separated by WW2.
Images representing their story grace the composition. A yellow ribbon indicates my mother's faithfulness in waiting for Dad's safe return from the war. White birds are used in several places; one is delivering a love letter from so very far away. Their wedded life began at the tiny country church where the pledge to love one another always was exchanged. Rows of small quilted circles on the ivory sateen represent the buttons on my mother's wedding gown.
The name of this quilt, “To Have and To Hold”, is written in the bible. The quilted checkerboard background contrasts the soft curved edges of the appliquéd “lace”. A small cartouche with my initials is at the top of the border, another with the date is at the bottom.
This quilt was accomplished while I was a student and was my greatest designing challenge to date. I wanted the border to represent lace. I struggled many days to find the right materials and to invent the technique that manipulated fabrics to achieve the final result. When the quilt was finished, I told my aunt about how I faced a new challenge in design each day. She said it was just like how we must work at a marriage to keep it progressing
2007
International Quilt Festival, Chicago,
Traditional Treasures Invitational Exhibit
Lowell Quilt Festival, Honorable Mention
2006
Home Machine Quilt Show, Third Place, Masters
2005
Road to California, Best Traditional Quilt
Dallas Quilt Celebration, Second Place, Masters, Appliqué,
and Viewers Choice
Quilter's Heritage Celebration, Honorable Mention,
and Viewers Choice
Pacific International Quilt Festival, Finalist
Treasures of Tomorrow, Second Place, Professional
2004
Indiana Heritage Quilt Show, Best Workmanship
National Quilting Assn., First Place Appliqué
and Viewer's Choice
Quilting on the Waterfront, Second Place, Traditional
A Quilter's Gathering, Best of Show-Craftsmanship
and Best Machine Quilting
2003
Minnesota Quilters Show, Best Machine Quilting
International Quilt Festival, Honorable Mention
American Quilter's Society Show, Finalist
© Joanie Zeier Poole 2002 Photo by Norman Lenburg
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