Carolyn's Reach: Reaching for My Daddy

My sweet mother-in-law loved to tell the story about my husband's childhood antics.  Jerry was always an explorer, and one day when he was 3 years old, his mother glanced out the kitchen window and saw him climbing up their tall ladder.  

The extended ladder was leaning against the roof where Jerry’s Dad was repairing some leaks. 

Of course, his mother panicked, but she quietly slipped outside and signaled to her husband that Jerry was climbing up the ladder.  His Dad turned around just as Jerry reached the very top rung.  He carefully reached down and caught Jerry’s hand. His Dad pulled him into his arms and carried him safely down the ladder.  When the theme, “reach” was announced, this scene immediately came to my mind.  My quilt marks this event in my husband’s young life.

To create my quilt, I free-cut cotton batik fabrics and fused them onto the steel blue background.  Although their home was in West Texas where there were no trees or flowers, I decided my little scene needed enhancing.  So I used fusible fabric and fabric pencils for the tree, embroidered a few flowers and finished the quilt with machine quilting using Aurifil thread.