Biography Quilts #1 (early work)

So after making Anonymous Old Lady, I made several other biography quilts. At one garage sale, I met Edna's daughter. Edna had died, the house was being sold, and I remember her daughter as being very eager to tell me all about her mom. About how she and her mom and her grandmother quilted, and knitted together, how her mom made hooked rugs, and how beautiful she was. I don't remember if she gave me a photo that day, or sent it later, but the wedding photo was the only indication of her dad, Al. When I got home, I took all the stuff I had purchased  and pinned it up on my work wall.

Autumn-colored towels, crocheted doilies, unfinished quilt squares and crocheted sections, 2 small knotted seat cushions, a small knotted rug and a sewing box of items to hunt through.

After the usual washing, I dyed the crochet to fit better with the gold colors (which I saw used in her house). I cut the towels into squares and stitched them together into a patchwork, then sewed Edna's quilt sections and crocheted sections over the patchwork (I do like to think she'd be pleased to know they were used). The mostly-black hooked rug is in the center, partially obscured by more dyed crochet and the photo (which I printed on cloth). How did I get the curved top? There's a wooden bar across the top, and a piece of strong piano wire bent into a loop, slipped through the rounded sleeve on back, and fitted into 2 holes drilled into the wooden bar.

One note: Since the women of  this family seemed to be front-and-center, I clipped Al out of the wedding photo...and sewed him peeking out on the left side. The title of this one is "Edna's Maternal line, and Al".

The lid from a bottle of Miss Clairol hair dye was found in the sewing box. Sorry, Edna - your secret is out.