Sonja

Kayaking in Summer

I started a nonprofit called the Parkinson's Comfort Project in 2011 to gather handmade lap quilts and then donate them to people with Parkinson's disease. I did this in honor of my parents, both of whom died of complications of this neurological disorder. Ever since then, I've experimented with lots of different patterns because this smaller sized quilt gives me enough space to experiment and still get it done in a reasonable amount of time. A art quilter friend in my guild loves working in series. Inspired by her, I decided to use a simple pattern (Nine-patch on Point) to make a quilt with colors from every season. Kayaking in Summer is one of the four. My husband and I live in the beautiful state of Vermont and we spend as much time as we can in our kayaks during the summer months. This quilt was inspired by the glint of sunlight hitting the water as we paddled under the trees on a late-summer day. It's just the right size for a Parkinson's Comfort quilt, 38 x 64 inches, and I often bring it with me for my own show and tell when I speak to quilt guilds about my work as a writer and as the founder of the Parkinson's Comfort Project.