what an honor--day 8

One of my proudest moments was when I received a call from a woman who had purchased one of my large quilts over 30 years ago. She had only a small glimpse of it in hanging in their living room in a picture of a gathering she had held but still I recognized it as mine from the days I did color studies of log cabins.

The customer told me she cried when she realized that the old familiar quilt was removed. But it was time to redecorate and they wanted me to make a new quilt for the updated space. Stop for a moment and think about that--after living with my quilt for 30 years and it was a large piece--they trusted me to make a new quilt to fill the space and give them the same sense of joy and home.

prairie sunrise--quilt--Ann Brauer 2016

It does look good there, doesn't it? Don't you love the modern but friendly feeling of this quilt with the red in the sky echoing the red in the rug?  Doesn't the room look like it will host many more gatherings for the next 30 years? What do you think?

36 years and still standing--prairie scene

I was lucky enough to grow up on a farm in Illinois. One of those wonderful magical places that one often only read about. Although the farm was along a river which gave us a few rolling hills, there were also long views of the distant sky. Would the bands of rain we could see in the west fall where we needed them? Would the sun break through the clouds before it set?

Normally we stored the hay and straw in the loft in the barn but one year for some reason my dad baled it and stacked the bales just west of the barn.

I can remember as a child scaling to the top of this pile and sitting there with the best view around just looking at the horizon and dreaming of what lay beyond.

prairie scene--quilt--ann brauer 2017--photo by John Polak

Do you have a memory of a place that you return to try to capture in all its aspects?  What do you think?

Day 2 of my 36 Day challenge.

"Because"

I am so honored to have my quilt "prairie sunrise" in the show "Because" at the Motherbrook Galleries in Dedham, MA. If you are in the Boston area, I do hope you will get a chance to check it out. Thanks Iris.

prairie sunrise--Ann Brauer 2016--image by John Polak