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Veterans Quilt

2024 - VETERANS QUILT Exhibited in the 2024 CT Piecemakers Quilt Show held at St. Barbara Greek Orthodox Church in Orange, CT (Approx. size 54" x 54") I have been working for years on this Veterans Quilt to honor some of the men in my family who have served our country during a time of war. There are four Marines shown on this quilt, three Army veterans, one Navy veteran and one Army Air Corps veteran. (Later, the AAC became the USAAF.) The four surrounded by gold stars had already passed away when I began the quilt. My husband, David, who died in 1986 at the age of 44, (upper center) is one of these four. His great-uncle, Frank Millington, received the Purple Heart Medal during World War I. Because I didn't have a picture of Frank, I scanned the front and back of his medal which was passed down to my late husband. The back of the Purple Heart Medal has Frank's name engraved on it. (middle-center).  My father, Arthur  Mott (center, left) and my uncle Charles J. "...
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Genealogy Quilt

Years ago, I became interested in genealogy and tracing my family tree back as far as I could go on both sides of my family.  In 2010, I made this "genealogy quilt" focusing on my mother, Irene.  I made this small quilt to look like a desk blotter.  Some of the things I included in this small quilt are pictures from her high school class, family pictures, census information about her and vintage postcards from the area in Vermont where she grew up.  My mother passed away in 2014 at age 95. Genealogy Quilt #1
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Challenge Quilts

 My local quilt guild has a Challenge Quilt event each year - usually more than one.  Each small challenge quilt has to be a certain size and is based on a particular theme.  Here are two Challenge quilts that I made recently.  The theme of the quilt on the left was SEASONS and the theme for the quilt on the right was TRIANGLES.
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Memory Quilts

 In 2021, I started making a series of T-Shirt quilts in memory of my DIL's step-dad, Harry, who was a retired fire chief in a nearby town.  His widow, Karen, asked me if I could make some t-shirt quilts out of his extensive collection of t-shirts from his various fire fighters conventions, his Navy ship reunions, and so forth.  Karen wanted photographs included on the quilts so I had all the photos printed onto 100% cotton fabric by an online company called Spoonflower. So far, I have made four (4) quilts which actually turned out to be very heavy, double-sided quilts.  Here is the front and back view of one of those quilts. FRONT AND BACK VIEWS OF T-SHIRT QUILT #3
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Beneath the Cross

This is my small donation quilt for the 2019 SAQA Benefit Auction.  My original design was inspired by a black & white drawing of Jesus Christ carrying His cross.  At first, this  image may look like an "X" – but if you turn the image on point, you can clearly see the cross.  I hope when people look at this quilt, they too will see the cross and reflect on all that it represents.  
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In Memory of Nancy Zieman

I was shocked and saddened to learn today that Nancy Zieman ( Sewing With Nancy ) had passed away after a long, courageous battle with cancer.  I feel like I have lost a close, personal friend.  Nancy was a wonderful sewing teacher who will be greatly missed by thousands of loyal fans who watched her TV show, Sewing With Nancy, since 1982.   Thankfully, you can still see episodes on PBS stations and on YouTube.  Nancy was an inspiration to us all and will be greatly missed. To read her personal goodbye retirement message, go to this link: http://www.nancyzieman.com/blog/quilting-2/a-personal-note-from-nancy/
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Moonlight in Vermont

For my donation this year to the 2017 SAQA Benefit Auction, I wanted to try doing a series and expand on the theme of moonlight.  I call this little art quilt, Moonlight in Vermont .  It's 12" x 12" per the required size for submission.  I made it for two reasons; (1) I was born in Vermont and (2) It's the title of one of my favorite songs.  I used the same background fabric as in my previous quilt.  I used silver tissue lamé  for the moon again and silver metallic thread for the quilting design and for highlighting the mountain tops.   This time, however,  I used a silver permanent marker to add more highlights to show the moon's shadow on the mountains.  (It sold for $100)
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Full Moon Over Stonehenge

I made this small (12"x12") art quilt for the 2016 SAQA Benefit Auction .  It's called, "Full Moon Over Stonehenge." I used a navy-blue speckled fabric for the night sky background.  I bought some Stonehenge fabrics by Northcott that I used for the vertical sarsen stones and the horizontal lintel stone.  The moon is a piece of very thin, silver lamé fabric, which I bonded to the background with Mistyfuse.  Within the radiating quilting lines, I added some Swarovski crystals for stars.  (It sold for $150.)
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Bluebird of Happiness

I made this Bluebird of Happiness quilt in remembrance of my husband, David, who died in 1986 at the age of 44.   The pattern I used for the bluebird was taken from a coloring book drawing by Florence Sarah Winship.   The background fabric was hand-dyed by Carol Eaton formerly of Shelton, CT.   The song, “ The Bluebird of Happiness ” made famous in 1945 by the opera tenor, Jan Peerce, had special significance for my husband because his father used to sing this song to him when he was a little boy.  Sadly, his father died in 1950 when my husband was only 8 years old. In late 1976, after we had been dating for a few months, I asked him what he wanted for Christmas and he asked for a copy of this song.    Well, in 1976, the Internet (as we know it today) didn’t exist - and because of that, I spent many weeks of frantic searching, lots of praying and then by no small miracle - in the yellow pages of a phonebook, I found a vintage ...
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Birch Tree (Genus: Betula)

I made this art quilt to donate to the 2015 SAQA Benefit Auction.  All quilts submitted to the auction must be 12" x 12" in size.  My donation quilt,  Birch Tree   (Genus: Betula),  sold for $100. c. 2015 - Birch Tree (Genus Betula) - V. Millington
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Thread Cabinet

By chance, I found this vintage four-drawer silverware cabinet (in like-new condition) in an antiques  warehouse not far from where I live.  I thought that it could be re-purposed as a sewing thread cabinet so I bought it.  I really love it!  I didn't realize how many spools of thread I had until I started to organize them into one place.  Not only can I see how many and what colors I have, I can see what colors I still need to add to my thread collection.  So far, I have almost filled three of the four drawers. (My little treadle sewing machine music box is sitting on top of a small art quilt made by the late Karen Loprete.) My Thread Cabinet
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Spool Block - Windham Textile & History Museum - 25th Anniversary Quilt

I created a spool block that was included in a special quilt made to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the Windham Textile and History Museum in Willimantic, CT.  This group quilt is composed of 25 different spool blocks made by members of the Connecticut chapter of Studio Art Quilt Associates. (SAQA) This quilt will become part of the museum's permanent collection. The Spool Block quilt can be seen at the WTHM along with a special exhibit called Inspiration Quilts: Then and Now which pairs 12 antique quilts in the museum's collection with 12 contemporary quilts made by twelve SAQA artists who were inspired by them. For more info go to: w ww.millmuseum.org My spool block is on the top row, block #4 when viewed left to right.  I used  the selvedges of various fabrics to make it look like thread wrapped around a spool. A portion of the whole quilt is shown here.  All the unique and colorful blocks in the finished quilt were amazing and unfortunatel...
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