"Hot and cold; 7 1/2 years"

is my most important piece. It tells the story of being a mom during my daughter’s illness, and was finished on her 19th birthday in 2006. It was the first quilt I ever sent out in the world.

The quilt is made from solid cotton fabrics, with raw edge appliqué and free motion quilting. The background is quilted with the first part of the artist’s statement, written in different coloured threads.


Artist’s statement:
“7 1/2 years ago, at the age of 11, my precious daughter got Anorexia. She hit rock bottom two years later, when she did not even have enough energy to keep up her body temperature, and spent most of her time in a chair, wrapped up in one of her favourite quilts.
At the age of 19, still struggling on and off, she is a brave, smart, strong and independent young woman - a truly genuine person - on her way out in the world. I’m so proud of her!

The orange stripes and figures represent her bright and shining spirit that never has broken, and the fact that she has always been the sunshine of my life. There are 7 ½ figures; one for each year she has been ill. The ½ figure symbolises the fact that she is partly out in the world on her own, and partly at home. The holes in the figures symbolises how fragile she has been, both physically and mentally, in periods. The little red circles represent the constant love and support that always have surrounded her.”


The quilt was a part of the European Quilt Association’s Suitcase exhibition “Hot & Cold”, and travelled through Europe for 3 years. All the quilts were shown together at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, England August 2006, and then distributed (one quilt from each country) in 17 suitcases, one to each country, and then swapped once a year.

After more than 3 years my quilt finally returned home. A file accompanied each quilt where all the places it was shown were noted, even with some nice comments from some countries. My quilt travelled the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Denmark. It even won two awards at exhibitions: a judged show in Scotland, and a visitor’s choice in England.

It also made the cover on The Norwegian Quilt association's magazine, Norsk Quilteblad.



I cried when I made the quilt, and I cried when I finally got it back.

Some quilts are not easy to make.

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