IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE

Hello to all who open this blog.  I want to share with you my latest project..  This was a sweet project,
Sylvia Clanton came to me in the spring and asked me to make her husband a king size bed quilt out
of the  t shirts that make up their life.  These t shirts are from places where Sylvia and Norm lived, travelled and enjoyed.  Norm is from Texas, and Sylvia is from Bethel.  Norm retired to Bethel after a life time service with the Air Force.  Allowing them to live in many parts of the country.
They choose to live their retirement years in Bethel, Maine.

 I met Sylvia at her home back in March 2012. 
She gave me a bag of over 40 t-shirts.  And over the next few months Sylvia would call me and
tell me she found some more T shirts. 

When I went to lay out my plan for this quilt, I couldn't fit the 50 plus t shirts on one side.  So this quilt became a 2 sided life story.

Naming this quilt was very easy  - IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE

Sylvia presented this quilt to Norm on his birthday in August. Their 49th anniversary is on November 13th.

Here is their story:

 

 

 

Sylvia gave me pictures of their family.  The picture in the middle of the quilt is of Sylvia and Norm on their wedding day.  On each side of their wedding picture is a picture of their engagment pictures.   Sylvia and Norm have 4 children and 2 grandchildren,  These pictures surround them and sit in the middle of the quilt.

 

 

This is the left side of the quilt, which I was told was Norms side of the bed.  So all the Texas

T-shirts are on the left and all the Bethel T-Shirts are on the right side to represent Sylvia.

 

 

 

Hence the right side of the quilt.

 

 

 

In between the Texas and the Bethel T-shirts are places they lived.or visited.

 

 

 

And now to show you side 2 of "It 's  A Wonderful Life.  Because Norm was a career

service man, what better way to honor him than to make a Red, White and Blue quilt.

 

 

 

 

 

I took all the t- shirts that had Red, White and Blue in them and

placed them on the back of the quilt.

 

 

 

I loved this fish, so I cut it off the t - shirt and placed it on some water fabric,

making it look like it is jumping out of the water. I'm not sure you can see it

but it is jumping out of the water for a fly.  It was also on the t-shirt.  This is

my favorite block.

 

 

 

 

 

I made the flag for the middle of the quilt.  

 

 

 

I would like to take this moment to thank Norm for his service. 

 

Sylvia and Norm where very surprised at the end results of this project.  Thou it was a complete surprise to Norm.  During the process of making this quilt I would show Sylvia and every time

she saw it, she couldn't believe what it turned out to be.  She said she had no idea

what it would end up looking like.  It brought tears to her eyes and mine at one point. 

 

May this quilt be a lovely reminder of a Beautiful Life made between to Beautiful people.

 

It was my pleasure designing this for Sylvia and Norm Clanton.

 

I hope you all enjoyed this latest Texture of Life quilt.  I love making time stand still

in color, making up a life in texture one stitch at a time.

 

May this be an heirloom to follow the Clanton family into the generations.to be made.

Shared Footsteps # 1 and # 2

Hello all who open this blog.  I hope you enjoy my next venture.  And thank you in advance for
taking the time to walk through my work. 

Back in March of 2012 Maureen Ginther and her sister Michelle asked me to make them a  T- Shirt quilt.  One for each of them.  The story behind this quilt is their dad Larry Lyon Ginther, use to run
the Bay to Breakers race every year in San Francisco.  Until he passed away in 1999.  So the Larry Ginther's Girls decided that they would run this race every year in honor of their father. 

The color scheme for these quilts came from the colorful t shirts.  I designed the quilts with the
T-shirts that had runners on them, running through the middle of the quilt.   I added a red finish line.
Michelle and Maureen had most of the same t shirts.  But there where a couple differences.

Michelle's quilt named  SHARED FOOTSTEPS #1

This is Maureens quilt.  Named  -  SHARED FOOTSTEPS #2

Maureens quilt has her dad's t-shirt on hers, it is in the second row, the second t-shirt on the left.
Below is the pictue of her dads t-shirt.  It was very well worn.

On one of the t-shirts was a list of all the runners names.  Maureen Ginther and Michelle Ginther's
names appear on this block.

  The following blocks are my favorite.  To me it represents the two sisters following there
dad to the finish line.  Please notice the red finish line followed by the stop of the hand.
Hence the name "SHARED FOOTSTEPS".

Their dad ran with a group of runners.  They called themselves the "Bonita Road Runners"

The black and yellow road was from another t shirt that I added to the Hayes street Blues t shirt.
to represent the steepness of this road.  Hayes Street Hill  is that famous hill you always see in the movies, when filming in San Francisco.  

The following block represents Michelle and Maureen, Maureen is from Maine and Michelle is from North Carolina.  I love the Run, Walk, Stumble or Crawl.  They did it all, they did it all for the love of their dad. 

My color scheme came from the t-shirt on the left.  I so love the Picasso look of this runner.

100 years running another reason for the name SHARED FOOTSTEPS,

This race has a couple major sponsors ING and the EXAMINER

I don't know if you can make it out but on each long border of the quilts are names..  One is

Webster Salute which has a meaning.  Maureen and Michelle have a brother in law who's last name is Webster.  There is a Webster Street on their running route.  Where they both stop and give the Webster Salute.

I apologize for the bad picture but also on the bottom of this quilt is the words Lyon Street.  Because on Hayes Hill there is a Lyon Street.  Which is a wonderful reminder of Michelle and Maureens dad,

whose name is Larry Lyons Ginther.

On each end of the quilt is B 2 B  which stands for Bay to Breakers the race in San Franciso

and on the other end is B 2 B which stands for the Beach to Beacon race in Maine. 

That Michelle and Maureen also have done. 

So that is the history behind these twin quilts.  I hope you enjoyed the journey.  

And I thank you again for viewing my blog. 

Time spent in the past is forever remembered in the future.  Donna Sheerin Gillis

Once Upon a TIme (Clothes of Bob Martin)

It has been a long time since I've been out here to share.  When I started this projectI didn't  know where it would lead me.  During the interview I pay close attention to the words the people speak of when they speak of their loved ones.  But I  pay closer attention to their actions and how they react to telling me the stories of the clothing.  I want to touch their hearts with my creations.  I hope you
can feel the beauty of my creations.   They extended me.

The last two quilts for Bob Martins daughters (Kim and Kelly) are completed.  I am very proud of these two quilts.   Before starting this project I took pictures of the clothing on a clothes line.

The red shirt and the sweat shirts where used to make the leaves of 3 of the trees

The scarf was used to make the three tree trunks with the tassels used to make the roots.   When Kelly gave me this scarf she said her dad always wore it at Christmas.

The two pair of shorts and the pants where also used to make the trees.

This is another picture of a pair of  shorts used.










This quilt is named "FAMILY ROOTS" 

I really love this quilt.  ENJOY  It is 3 dimensional.

I hope you can see the 3d dimension in this picture.

The following is a picture that Connie (Bob's wife) sent me.  It is a picture of Bob on a vacation trip with his family to North Conway.  North Conway has beautiful mountains surrounding it.   Not far from North Conway is Mount Washington.  My plan was to duplicate this picture. 

 

 I added Mount Washington in the background  the white t shirt in the above  picture was used to make the Mount Washington in the background.


This quilt was made for Bob's daughter Kelly.  I named this quilt  "Once Upon a Time".  The chairs where made from a pattern I found from McKenna Ryan.  It was perfect.  I think I captured the essence of the picture I was trying to replicate.

This picture is I added so that you could see the chairs better.








Because the only clothing used was  to make Mount Washington and the 2 chairs I felt compelled to make the back of the quilt with a lot of Bob's clothing. 

On the back of each quilt I always put a pocket.  The pocket
holds a personal letter from me telling the story of the quilt.






The next small wall hanging was made for Bob's wife Connie.   During the whole process of creating these quilts Bob's one year anniversary passed.  I wanted Connie to have something
during that week.  It is a small wallhanging with a lot of meaning.  Both of the men in Connie's life
(her dad and her husband) had the same black Woolrich Vest.  So hence the name of the following
quilt "Close to the Vest".  This quilt is made of a pocket from Bob's vest  the flowers are made from
a white gray sweatshirt and a green sweatshirt.  The background is the same red shirt used to make the leaves on Family Roots. 

May life be gentle on your side of the screen.  Thank you for your time and I hope you enjoyed

the process of my creations.  All of these quilts are my original designs. 

Donna Sheerin Gillis

Dedicated to my sister Barbara Vazan

Hello friends on the other side of my screen, I have some sad news to share with you, my sister Barbara
passed away on December 9 th 2011.  Barbara was an accomplished quilter.  She is the one that brought

the interest of quilts into my life.  She will forever be missed in presence, but she is forever with me in thought.    I want to share with you some words I wrote for Barb. 

Barb lived in Pittsford New York, but she also made a masterpiece quilt called New York Beauty.

                                       NEW YORK BEAUTY

Like a quilt in full color
     you lived amongst us.

thou the softness of your arms
    can no longer be felt

The Gentleness of your person
     will never leave our hearts,

You never asked for love
      it was given freely to you,

You loved us all unconditionally,

You mastered the art of needle and thread,
     for we are your last quilt,

You wove us into each others lives
      with a thread of gold,

You are sewn into our lives for all eternity,

You are ones wife, a mother, a sister, a friend,

May peace now fill your soul,

You are the New York Beauty

we all know as "BARBORA".....



              WHEN I LEAVE

When I leave this earth
let it be in spring,

When nature springs start a new,
tender are the buds,
in there pastel glory,

Knowing Gentle rains will fall
and the birds will sing,

When I leave this earth
let it be in summer,

When hummingbirds and butterflies flutter,
When days are long
and the fragrance of flowers and cut grass
fill the air...

When I leave this earth let it be in Fall
when the brillance of color fills my eyes,
feeling like a leave, caught in a breeze
soring high on a tail wind,
dancing with nature...

When I leave this earth let it be in Winter
On a moon lit night
after a day of snow,
When the land and sky sparkle at each other
feeling in awe of it's beauty,
crisp is the air that takes my breath away......


Thank you for letting me use this outlet to release my inner thoughts..



Here is my last project, I call it ORNAMENTAL because of the meaning of the word, one who adds
luster to the surroundings.
This quilt was made for Connie Martin in honor of her husband Bob Martin who passed away on
Dec. 14, 2010.  When Connie called me she asked me to make 4 quilts for her.  One for each of her
daughters, one for her grandson, and one for her.   But what Connie gave me for her quilt was a bag
fulll of christmas ornaments that her husband bought over the years.  I was excited to come up with a
design for this.  It just happened that this summer when Barbara was visiting me, she was making a
yo yo quilt.   Barbara was always an inspiration to me.  So when I received this bag of ornaments
I knew a yo yo tree was going to be designed.  I attached each ornament so that they could be
taken off I used buttons on the back to give support to the hoop in front that holds the ornament.

The christmas tree top was an ornament that Bob's grandson made for him, and the shoe stand was

Bob's christmas stocking that he used each christmas.

Another quilt that I made for Connie Martin was a quilt made of the pockets on Bob's clothing.  This one

was made for their grandson Spencer.  Each pocket holds a picture of Spencer and his Pepe.

Well I will leave you now, I am working on the last two quilts for Connies daughters.  I'm hoping to have one completed by the end of January.  When I complete it I will add it to this blog.  I hope you are enjoying

the threads of life that I have woven here.  And I bet you are wondering if I will be including a quilt of

my sisters clothing at some point.  My mind fills up with ideas when I look at the clothing of

people I do not know and I find myself scetching my ideas immediately.  My heart is filled with too much emotion to design something that would represent my sister.  I feel the many quilts that she has made in

her lifetime is her legacy.  I do have one more thing to share with you, the following picture is of

a chinese jacket that she made.

Teach the angels to sew Barbara.  Love you to pieces.