Focusing on the Details

Today I pinned the t-shirt quilt of my uncle's clothes.

The last time I saw him was in July 2010, less than a month before he died suddenly. 

We were visiting family and my mom was making a point to tell everyone about my new quilting hobby.

Everyone was crowded around a laptop, looking at pictures from this blog, and he looked at me and said pointedly "I like quilts." I asked him if that was supposed to be a hint.

I asked him what kind of quilt he would like and he said "I like hunting and deer and trees and motorcycles." I told him he'd have to wait and see, privately shuddering and the idea of making a deer themed quilt. (Although that nice Paint-by-number line did come to mind.)

I was going to make him two quilts for Christmas. A "tacky" deer and camo one for his hunting cabin and a nice Carpenter's Star for his home. I'd already been browsing for fabrics after I got home from that trip, although I hadn't bought any yet. I was thinking about the designs, planning them out in my head.

He was a young man. He was funny and warm and alive -- and now he isn't. Sometimes focusing on the details seems to make it a little easier to deal with.

When I don't look at the whole picture at once it doesn't hurt as bad.

These were his clothes. He was a big man; I was able to do all the background pieces from one camo shirt and still had some left over.

I think it's important with a t-shirt quilt that it doesn't look like just any other quilt made with fabric bought off the shelf. These were clothes; they were worn by a real person. There are buttons and zippers and tags.

He always made me hug with "both arms" before he would let me go.

He was big and tough -- but he loved cats.

He rode his Harley from Mississippi to Texas to see me when I graduated high school.

 

He killed himself on August 17, 2010 and we miss him every day.

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