Karen's Quilt Comes Home

The Quilt Block at Festival of Trees is an amazing part of Festival where quilters display their most unique talents by designing, creating and donating beautiful quilts.  These quilts are sold by Silent Auction and Cash and Carry on Opening Night.  These heirlooms amaze young and old alike as their amazing patterns and themes are displayed.  Each quilt is stitched with love, and more time than most can imagine is donated to create them. Over the past 48 years that Festival of Trees has been in operation, hundreds of quilts have been created and donated and thousands of dollars have been raised. 

This story of "Karen's Quilt" is EXTRA special and started in 1970.....as told by her sister, Jenny. 

Karen's Quilt

"When Karen was about 11 years old, her mother Vivian gave her a sewing basket filled with embroidery tools as an incentive for her to learn to do embroidery and other sewing.  

Included was a baby quilt pattern which could be used for learning embroidery techniques.  Karen was immediately determined that she would make the baby quilt for her little brother, who was about two years old at the time.  Karen quickly caught on to the techniques and did beautiful work.  But as time went by, the project was set aside. 

Karen's Sewing Box

Then, when Karen was 13 (in 1970), she was diagnosed with cancer.  To help pass time while in bed at Primary Children's Hospital and at home, she began to embroider the quilt blocks she had started two years previously. The darling blocks in the quilt had pictures of animals and flowers and the background was a soft baby blue. Both of her grandmothers, Vera Best and Lula Croft, volunteered to do one or two blocks for her.  After the blocks were lovingly completed, Karen and her Grandma Croft put the blocks together and quilted it, with Grandma Croft doing most of the work.  The quilt was completed about a month before Karen passed away.

By this time, Karen's little brother was four years old and too old for a baby quilt.  At the same time, the Festival of Trees was in its beginning stages.  Karen's parents, Myron and Vivian Best, decided to donate the quilt to the fund raising project in December, 1971.  Her mother says, "We wanted the quilt to be special.  We wanted it to have a purpose." At Festival, one of the doctors who had worked with Karen at Primary Children's recognized her quilt, bought it, and then donated it to the hospital.  

Karen's quilt hung in the boardroom of the old Primary Children's Hospital building for several years.  When the new hospital was built, it was framed and hung in the hall near the children's playroom in the cancer area.

Time went by.  Karen's seven siblings grew up and had children of their own.  Occasionally one would visit the hospital and look for the quilt to show to their children.   On one visit, inquiry was made that if some time in the future the hospital no longer wanted the quilt, could the family have it back?  To the surprise of the inquirer, she was told she could have it right then.  Arrangements were made to take it home.  Someday the quilt will go to Karen's little brother (who is now a grandfather) for whom it was made in the first place. Karen's quilt now hangs on display at the home of her parents and is considered a family heirloom." 

Karen - 13 years old

Editor's note:  I met Jenny (Karen's amazing sister) coincidentally at a Nail Salon.  She immediately shared the story of Karen's Quilt.  Her mother Vivian has been thrilled to share the story as well.  Vivian said to me via email, "Perhaps with you having this story, the quilt can keep on giving." If you would like to donate a quilt to the Festival of Trees, go to our www.festivaloftreesutah.org and click on "Get Involved".  Scroll down to "Quilt Block" to register.