In Memory of Helen Kelley

I went the the Quilter's Newsletter magazine web site to renew my subscription and to my dismay I saw the announcement that Helen Kelley had passed away September 1st. I always read and enjoyed her column. Her positive outlook and measured perspective did feel like my grandmother and her sisters. They were also needle women. Their idea of amusing a 4 year old girl was a needle and thread, a box of assorted buttons and a length of fabric. I have to say that it worked. Those very things still amuse me nearly 50 years later.

I think about the future of women and what my grandmother called "hand work." I know my greats and grands thought about it and from her writings I think Helen Kelley thought about it too because to quilt and to show your work, to quilt and to write about it is to advocate for your craft in a way. To want to pass it on.

I'll miss Helen.