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My Mom's Quilt, A Story of Family Love
"Although I have authored articles about retirement planning, I had never considered a book about the history of my family. My mom had a dream to sew a family quilt for the next generation, but unfortunately, she was unable to complete the project. I finished her quilt by telling the story of My Mom's Quilt to fulfill her dream of leaving a legacy for her family."
It all began when Mom told me that she wanted to sew a family quilt. She was not an experienced quilter but her taking on a new creative project did not surprise me. She asked me if I would draw pictures of her Tombrella family's farm life in Alta Loma, TX, and Dad's Marullo family's fishing life in Galveston, TX, and of how the two families met and grew together.
I worked on the project for over 2 years, and when it was finished I was proud of the results. I designed the quilt to include 9 quilt blocks, each representing major events in my mom and dad's life. Within these 9 illustrations, I sketched over 100 family members as they appeared at different ages of their lives. The challenge I faced was how to accurately tell my Mom's life story in illustrations. How could I sketch our family members so they would be recognizable, and yet be simple enough to be transferred to my mom's quilting material and sewn into a quilt?
Mom was good at many things, but quilting was new to her. Sewing this quilt with my designs, even though I simplified the sketches, would have been a challenge for even the most experienced quilter. But no matter how she approached it, how hard she tried, none of her efforts worked. She finally had to give up. I believe she was very disappointed. She wouldn’t be able to fulfill her dream of leaving this legacy to the next generation.
After this disappointment, I put my sketches away in a closet thinking Mom's quilt would never be completed. Then, recently, I decided to frame and hang my illustrations next to other family pictures in my living room. I would have been satisfied with this, but my girl friend, Cathy, suggested that I write a book about mom's quilt and use my illustrations to tell the story. Her inspiration gave me a way I could fulfill my Mom's dream. Today I can say, “Mom, your quilt is finished.”