“A Celebration of Her Beautiful Life”

About 18 months ago I wrote a memorial for my granddaughter, Haley. It has been a long time of often inconsolable grief, a dance of sorrow and joy, and often pain and pure love for the entire family. Today I am sharing the way in which I spent these months. I designed and created a set of Angel Wings to celebrate her life using my favorite needlework technique…French Boutis. It is very exciting to share this with everyone who has lost someone special or who knows someone in need of a lovely celebration of a life well lived and a way to keep the memories in their hearts. The pattern for this can be found on my Etsy page.

This is a digital pattern and includes two angel wing patterns, one traditional and one art deco, instructions and more photos.

For those who are not interested in Boutis Needlework, this pattern can also be used for embroidery or even quilting with a thin layer of batting between the two layers of fabric and stitched by hand or machine.

For every pattern purchased a donation of $5 will be made to the Danada Veterinary Hospital in Wheaton, Illinois, where Haley worked for many years. She was studying to become a veterinarian at the University of Tennessee.

Please visit my Etsy page and participate in a celebration of life for someone you love.

Another way I have spent my days was to create a quilt in her memory.

This quilt was started when we began taking Haley for radiation and physical therapy following her diagnosis of a stage 4 malignant brain tumor in November of 2018. Appliquing the blocks gave me peace while I prayed for a cure, a healing, a full recovery, and then for more time. Alas she passed away one week before her 21st birthday, almost three years after her initial diagnosis. The pattern I used was taken from Sue Garman’s “Sarah’s Revival.” Quickly it became “Haley’s Revival.” I did do some altering of the pattern to make it a larger 98″x98″ size. The applique was completed before her death, but the piecing of the blocks, sashing and borders were finished three months after. With much love and sadness, the hand quilting began on January 28, 2022, taking 487.5 peaceful and therapeutic hours, and was finished 10 months later on November 26, 2022. In white thread I stitched her name inconspicuously with birth date and death date. The label on the back is a pocket and is filled with a written page of her story and a couple of photographs. The completion was truly a help in my grief recovery. We miss her with every breath we take.

And then I began the design and creation of the angel wings in celebration of her life and beautiful memories made with all of us.

Amities, Averyclaire