Sunday, March 24, 2019
I met Helen around 2002. Our mutual love of quilting was the beginning of a wonderful friendship.
Helen hosted meetings at her home of the Raffle Quilt committee that selected the design, choose the fabrics, sewed and set the quilt blocks for the quilt raffled off by the ESQ for a number of years.
In 2003, she also made the ribbons attached to prize-winning quilts. On her home computer, she printed and assembled Quilt Show programs. Did I mention what a creative and generous quilter she was? She loved sharing her tips with all newcomers.
Helen had an eye for color in quilts—the brighter the better, usually teamed with black. I recently saw her hand quilting on a stenciled white top. When I said how surprised I was to see her working on something I considered outside her style, another quilter sitting next to her, commented “Did you look at the thread she's using?” Variegated bright colors!
Helen had a special place in her heart for making charity quilts, and joined with like-minded quilters to create many baby quilts. She created many quilts over her lifetime for her beloved family, including her 4 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren.
After my obsession with quilting shifted to a new one, genealogy, we continued our twice-monthly Tuesday 2-hour lunches at Hale and Hearty or at Hunan Dynasty Restaurant. While we caught up with each other's lives, Vinny bargain shopped, mostly groceries. I understood that very well, it was something I learned from my Dad.
Helen will be long remembered with great affection by the many whose lives she touched. We were blessed.
