Windows

At 5 PM on September 11, 2001, John, and I were to leave on a two week vacation to Italy. Looking out the window that morning and anticipating our trip, I was particularly excited to see the cathedral floors and to gain inspiration for a new quilt.

Others looked out windows that day as well......windows of airplanes, windows of the Trade Center, windows of emergency vehicles. We all watched the windows of our televisions stunned and dazed.

The next Friday noon, dressed in red, white and blue, stained glass windows met our eyes as we sat in church and held hands and prayed with strangers.

Those first few days after the attacks the world was filled with visions of smoke, ash and rubble. Those visions along with flags defiantly showing through the gray were ever present in my mind. As events spiraled, even though we didn't go to Italy, I was compelled to begin my quilt anyway. I studied a floor plan of St. Marks Cathedral and selected one of the designs as the inspiration for the central circle.

Later that week John and I decided to get away for a few days and left for the Eastern Shore of Maryland. I loaded the car with fabrics in the colors I had been seeing---faded reds, whites and blues tinged with smoke and ash, but the occasional vibrant tones....representing our strength, courage and spirit....

As the drone of fighter planes broke the silence up above, I spent those days sorting fabrics and cutting and beginning to evolve this quilt......it was a sort of therapy..... I visualized looking down from the top floors of the towers and the Windows of the World restaurant at the Statue of Liberty standing proudly below.

The star in the center and the flags and statues around the outermost circle represent Liberty's crown.

My goal was to have at least one piece for each victim of the attacks.The fabric in the very center is for our neighbor and friend, Barbara Olson, who was in the plane that hit the Pentagon.

The quilt contains 4,777 pieces and is hand pieced and quilted. It is made only with fabrics I have designed. The last stitch was taken on October 5, 2002.