What should you do with the fragments of memories that accumulate during a long and fulfilling life? When David A. Smith's children assisted him in downsizing from his home to an independent living apartment, they discovered a box filled with memorabilia from his scouting days.
Growing up in the Chicago area, David relished his experiences as a Boy Scout achieving the rank of Eagle Scout in the 1940s. Later, while raising a family in the Cleveland area, David became a troop leader for several of his sons. The box of mementos was brimming with badges, uniforms, bandannas, scouting handbooks, and sashes. But by 2020, the time had come to downsize the house and make tough decisions about what was kept and what went away.
Luckily, the box of scouting treasures landed in the hands of David's daughter, Clare Long, the only girl in a family of seven children. For months, the box remained untouched; but as David's 90th birthday approached in 2022, Clare decided to make a quilt for him using the contents of the box.
Clare learned to sew from her grandmother on an antique treadle machine, igniting her passion for sewing. Now an avid quilter for over thirty years and a member of the North Coast Needlers Quilt Guild and a Board Member of Sew4Service, Clare loves to make quilts from scrappy materials and finds sewing a good way to relax. Inspired by the purchased center panel, Clare set to work to transform the pieces of memory into something David and his family could cherish.
Clare employed many techniques to create the quilt. Fabric from the uniforms, including pockets with buttons, became quilt squares and were used as backing for the badges that frame the center panel. Paper items, such as pages from the Boy Scout manual, awards, and letters were preserved using an image transfer method that allowed them to be put onto fabric which could be used in the quilt. After about two months of effort, Clare completed the quilt, and her Dad loved his special birthday present. Today, the quilt hangs proudly in the hallway of his apartment and is a conversation starter for visitors and a valued reminder of the Boy Scout motto “Prepared for Life.”
If you are interested in learning the basics of quilting and getting started on your own sewing adventure, Sew4Service will be holding Learn to Quilt classes starting early next year in their Sewing Studio at Shore Cultural Centre. Sign up for our newsletters and to learn more about upcoming classes and events.
Comments