Downsizing into a studio apartment would be a challenge for most of us. For a quilter with a lifetime supply of fabrics - ouch!
But quilters are adept at patching together ingenious solutions. And so Becky Bent devoted a whole wall of her one-room home in a retirement community to a 3-D collage of textiles, quilt pieces, and other visual inspirations. A coworker gifted her with a loft bed to stack against the opposite wall, creating a nook for her sewing machine underneath. In place of the folding panel doors covering the two wide, shallow closets she hung heirloom quilt tops she had discovered in long-ago forays to antique shops.
But quilters are adept at patching together ingenious solutions. And so Becky Bent devoted a whole wall of her one-room home in a retirement community to a 3-D collage of textiles, quilt pieces, and other visual inspirations. A coworker gifted her with a loft bed to stack against the opposite wall, creating a nook for her sewing machine underneath. In place of the folding panel doors covering the two wide, shallow closets she hung heirloom quilt tops she had discovered in long-ago forays to antique shops.
In her early 60s, Becky is one of the youngest residents at Westmoreland Union Manor. "When most people see me they assume I'm visiting a parent here," she tells me. But despite the cramped quarters, the place suits her needs in retirement. She gets to garden ("Gardeners are the nicest people," she says) in a hidden landscape ribboned by Crystal Springs. There's her daily hour at the pool tables in the rec room, and a gang of women teaching her mahjong. The crafts room gives her space to stretch out her quilting projects and the place is full of interesting people with a lifetime of stories. All in all, a nice balance of communal activity and the privacy of a solitary studio.
But one of the greatest benefits to her new situation - and the one that inspired my visit - is that it finally provided a home for "B. George: A Portrait of My Father," a life-sized quilt Becky created nearly 25 years ago as the thesis project for her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.
"My father died in 1983 of lung cancer which had metastasized to his brain. He was 60 years old," reads her artist's statement alongside the quilt, now hung in a main hall of Union Manor.
"He was a kind and gentle man who loved to garden, and was a voracious reader who kept a notebook listing every book he had read. He had a great sense of humor, and was a great punster. I still miss him, and I think of him every time I hear a pun (bad or good!!)"
"My father died in 1983 of lung cancer which had metastasized to his brain. He was 60 years old," reads her artist's statement alongside the quilt, now hung in a main hall of Union Manor.
"He was a kind and gentle man who loved to garden, and was a voracious reader who kept a notebook listing every book he had read. He had a great sense of humor, and was a great punster. I still miss him, and I think of him every time I hear a pun (bad or good!!)"
"I've been carrying this quilt around with me all these years, rolled up in sheets, as I never had enough room to hang it in any of my dwellings. I am so pleased to have the opportunity to have it here for all of you to enjoy."
Becky's mother "didn't do funerals". So creating this tribute quilt provided Becky with some sense of closure. The shirt is one of B. George's own, a wild striped affair of stylized animal heads. The books feature titles her dad had treasured. A real garden glove keeps his flowers perpetually tended.
For all the soothing the making of the quilt provided, Becky finds even greater completion in seeing it hung, 30 years after his death, in a place where others on the downslope of life can connect to it, their own stories, and to her. It's likely B. George, if he could hear the chatter in the corridor, might learn a few new puns, both good and bad.
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Deep thanks for this story to Becky Bent, who takes commissions for quilts. Contact me if you'd like to connect with her. For more stunningly beautiful commemorative quilts, check out Lori Mason Design.
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