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.
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