A Quilter Extraordinaire

I'd like to tell you a little about a friend of mine who passed away last week. Bev Bennett was a sweetie who spent almost every spare moment quilting quilts for the Sunshine On-line Quilting Guild. We both have belonged to the Sunshine Quilt Guild since it"s beginnings in mid 1990's. Sunshine makes quilts for kids. Orphans in Siberia and Mexico, children on American Indian reservations, children recovering from rotoplast surgeries and more. With over 500 members there are various members doing various jobs. Some gals make blocks, some cut squares, some make tops, some provide funds or fabrics for those who sew. And some are what we call our "Quilting Angels." Bev was not just head Angel, she was our leader, cheerleader, encourager and more. She was our Quilter Extraordinaire! Extraordinary: exceptional, fantastic, exceptional, marvelous, phenomenal, rare, special, stupendous, unique to name just a few adjectives which describe Bev.

Bev lived in Fairbanks, Alaska with her furry pets. She'd been a widow for over 25 years. I don't believe I'd ever seen a picture of Bev. She only posted pictures of things that made her smile: a moose looking in her window for a handout, the northern lights and photos of the quilts she quilted for Sunshine. Just take a little look at just a few of the quilts Bev quilted for Sunshine. These are just the ones she took photos of and that's over 800 in the past two years. Over the years Bev quilted thousands of quilts for Sunshine. Many of us made the tops and Bev quilted them with joy. While she was still working full time she'd quilt 300+ quilts a year.

I enjoyed the phone calls and emails we exchanged. I was encouraged by her. She never complained and was always cheerful even when health issues plagued her.

Bye Bev, I'll miss you (and I'm sure you've got those angels quilting already!).