Betsy Ames Memorial Quilt

Betsy Ames was an artist, a world traveler, and an appreciator of beauty. In her 24-year career as a senior policy analyst for the City of Portland, she was highly respected and relied on as ‘an unflappable problem solver, diplomat, and mentor’.  Her colleagues described her as ‘She, who knows all things”. I created her memorial quilt in collaboration with Betsy’s sister Lucy Ames, a fellow artist and traveler. To create the rivers of color, we used fabrics from Betsy’s home, favorite clothing (some sewn by her), cloth acquired on her travels, and yardage from her own fabric stash. The overall quilting was designed and executed on a long-arm quilting machine by Terri Carpenter at Hello Stitch in Berkeley, CA.

front view of quilt. background is dark blue and there are thick rivers of rainbow colored fabrics in the bottom two thirds of the quilt. edging is a similar rainbow of fabric.
back of quilt. most of the quilt is purple. the bottom third of the quilt features long rectangular strips of fabrics in blues, greens and purples.
Close up of the back of quilt in blues and purples. A hand embroidered label displays Betsy's full name and birth and death dates.
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