24 years later

24 years later...

It has been 24 years since I received a commission from Marriott to create a wall hanging for MeadowView Conference and Convention Center Resort in Kingsport, TN. In those few short weeks of quiltmaking I learned a lifetime of lessons. Working with a international corporation took me from being a hometown girl to a global woman. I had never had the privilege of working to please a world class interior designer before. It was a challenge I took running.

Now, 24 years later, I revisited the 12'w x 8'h Tree of Life wall hanging to see how she was holding up over the years. The wall hanging is in a large corridor next to the convention area. With thousands of people walking from the bathrooms past the water fountain to the convention center door, I was anxious to see what the quilt would look like after all those years. The entire building had been redecorated and almost all of the original artwork removed, except my quilt. What would I find? Would sticky hands have lovingly touched the surface?

I was extremely relieved to find the quilt still in beautiful condition. The wool couching around each leaf was still in excellent condition and hadn't, as I feared, become fuzzy over the years of being in a very public place. The three-dimensional trunk had not sagged from the gravitational pull of time. I think she is good to go for another 24 years!