Quilting bliss

Today was one of those great days.  I finished a quilt I have been working on for a while.  If feels good to have finished this piece. I have been working on this piece for many weeks.   A lot of my own personal history has gone into this piece of work.  I have scanned onto fabric all the men in my family who fought in the great wars.  It is a lovely memento to their sacrifice for me.  They gave their all for unknown posterity and unknown millions of people who would follow them on the earth. 

As I contemplated each on their sacrifices I also thought of the woman who also sacrificed a great deal for me and my family.  What an amazing amount of love they must have had for their fellow country men and families. 

When I look at my own life and look at the sacrifices I have made it really pales in comparison.  I can't think of anything I have done that even partially measures up what they did and contributed to the life we live now.

I hand painted and machine quilted the poppy.  After I photographed this quilt I wrote the name of one of my ancestors on the cross in the centre of the poppy. He died in France during World War 1.   He was a school teacher and only aged 26 years old.  He died rescuing wounded comrades in heavy fire on the 8th of October in 1916.  I don't have a picture of him just a story of his heroic deed.

The edge of this quilt is a stamp of barbed wire encasing the men and the symbol of the war the poppy.  Quilted onto the photos is a collection of crosses.

I hope it is a fitting tribute for all these amazing people.