Alzheimer's, my Mother and my Quilt
I have been working steadily on my quilt and have been reluctant to show its development.I guess because it is such a personal response to my experience of my mother's illness but here it is so far, the stitching phase will be next.
In the quilt I have ten images of my mother in various stages of degeneration. In the final image she is facing the opposite direction as if she is looking back. In this image she is almost totally gone, she is not there anymore, it appears white and ghostly. Along the bottom, I have symbols of her memories painted onto the fabric within circles to represent the circle of life.
It is getting there but I still have a long way to go. I sent the images to my sister and I don't think she really likes it. The experience has been quite different for her as she and my father have had to live with Mum everyday and have seen all the daily changes. She did say that it is not always darkness and that at times she laughs, for me it is different.
In the quilt I have ten images of my mother in various stages of degeneration. In the final image she is facing the opposite direction as if she is looking back. In this image she is almost totally gone, she is not there anymore, it appears white and ghostly. Along the bottom, I have symbols of her memories painted onto the fabric within circles to represent the circle of life.
I then added the simplified bold symbols of the African comb at the top to link with the head and lost memories
It is getting there but I still have a long way to go. I sent the images to my sister and I don't think she really likes it. The experience has been quite different for her as she and my father have had to live with Mum everyday and have seen all the daily changes. She did say that it is not always darkness and that at times she laughs, for me it is different.
5 Comments:
You've chosen such a difficult and emotional subject but I'm sure the end result will be wonderful.
Powerful...
i understand what the both of you are going through. i too wanted to remember the happy times. the quilt that i made of my father was when he was young and smiling. i like what you have done so far.
what a wonderful project. I am like your sister, dealing with this everyday as I care for my Mom. I have toyed with the idea of making a piece to help express the emotions, but don't think I would have the energy to make it though the project... to many ups and downs. It must be very draining. I am sure where ever it takes you, it will be wonderful in the end.
God Bless You.
Sandra, Thank you so much for sharing this. Blessings! Kyra
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