Blanket Stories: Talking Stick, Works Progress, Steward

A site-specific installation commissioned by Curator Faith Brower and the High Desert Museum in Bend, Oregon

105.
Laura Ferguson
Bend, OR
Tags
Handmade, In memoriam, Mothers

Each summer my family spent a week biking, hiking, and swimming in Sunriver. The summer I was 19, during our annual trip, my mom had a seizure. We headed to St. Charles and learned that she had a brain tumor. It spread quickly, and seven weeks later she passed away. In her sewing basket, at home in Portland, was a half-finished blanket she had been crocheting for me. Over the next few years, I used her hooks and patterns and learned to crochet. I finally finished the blanket she had started. One of my favorite things about the blanket is its imperfections – you can see where her stitches stop and mine begin.