 |
For their first daughter, Nahoma, I made a wallhanging with 5 patchwork cats that resembled their black and white cat named "Istanbul" but called "Izzy" for short. The label on the back says "This baby quilt was machine pieced and machine quilted in June 1993 for Nahoma Maytal Presberg born on April 24, 1993 in Rochester, New York by your Grandpa Saul's first cousin Martha Presberg Supnik in Carlisle, Massachusetts. The pattern was adapted from a photo seen in a magazine." |
 |
Here's a closeup of the quilt. The black fabric looked a little like fur. |
 |
For their first son, Matan, I made another cat quilt this time resembling their orange cat named "Constantinople" and called "Connie" for short. The label on the back says "This wallhanging was especially designed, machine pieced, and hand quilted for Matan Gavriel Presberg, born April 23, 1996 in Rochester, NY by his Grandpa Saul's first cousin, Martha Presberg Supnik in Carlisle, Massachusetts in the summer of 1996." |
 |
Here's a closeup of the quilt showing the white fabric with cats and fish frames that inspired the design and the row of pieced fish swimming around the border. |
 |
When I heard that Martin and Marcy had another son, Avi, I had run out of cats to inspire quilt ideas and asked Marcy to pick another animal. The embroidery says "The Lord said to Abram, "I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you shall be a blessing." Genesis 12:1-2". |
 |
Here's a closeup of the quilt. The label on the back says "This Biblical Shepherd quilt was designed, machine pieced, hand quilted and hand embroidered especially for Avraham Simcha Presberg born July 11, 1998 in Rochester, New York by Martha Presberg Supnik (your Grandpa Saul’s first cousin) in Carlisle, Massachusetts. The sheep pattern came from “A Quilter’s Ark” by Margaret Rolfe. The idea originated when your mother said that Avraham in the Torah was a shepherd. We all want you to grow up knowing that you will be a blessing!" |
 |
Their fourth child is a daughter named Shira. When I heard her name I immediately thought of a favorite song and designed her quilt around that idea. Since she and Nomi share a bedroom, I used a piece of the red fabric left from the background of Nomi's cat quilt for the bird's breast in Shira's quilt and made sure the colors would go well together. I copied the sheet music for the song onto the fabric used for the back of the quilt and sent a copy of the album to the family as well. |
 |
Here's a closeup of the quilt. The label on the back says "This songbird wallhanging was specially designed and created for Shira Sarai Presberg born on Tuesday, December 3, 2002 in Rochester, NY. It was made by her Grandpa Saul’s first cousin, Martha Presberg Supnik in Carlisle, MA from February to May 2003. The idea for the floral frame comes from the book “Quilts with a view” by Faye Labanaris. When I heard that her name was Shira, I immediately thought of the song “Shir Chadash” written by Julie Silver in 1993 and recorded on her 3rd album, “Walk With Me.” Julie was the music teacher at Temple Isaiah in Lexington, MA when my sons were in Hebrew School. The lyrics to the song are taken from Psalm 96:1 and it expresses my joy at welcoming a new baby into the family!" |
 |
I got an e-mail from Martin and Marcy in September 2004 that said "Help! our rat ate part of Avi's quilt. We just returned from a lovely vacation in the Adirondacks when we discovered a serious quilt problem. Some people were staying in our house, and our pet rat's cage (it wasn't my idea to have a pet rat) was inadvertently moved too close to Avi's quilt. The rat did some chewing and there is now a missing area on the bottom of the quilt about 6 inches long and 2 to 3 inches high." Here's a photo of the quilt before repairs. |
 |
Fortunately, I had saved all the fabric scraps left from making the quilt in one ziplock bag and there was plenty for repairs. Since the front of the quilt was originally pieced from many strips, the new strip of green print fabric does not show at all. I also replaced the nibbled batting and binding and put a small patch on the back which had originally been one large piece. To cover that patch and enhance the quilt, I asked Avi to write a story about what happened. |
 |
This is the label I added to the back of the quilt before mailing it back to him. "This quilt was repaired by “Cousin Martha” in September 2004 after the house-sitter left the cage with Avi’s pet rat “Peace” too close to his wall-hanging and she took a strip of fabric and batting from the bottom edge for nesting material. Avi says ”We went to the Adirondacks. We went to the beach. We built with shovels, pails, and buckets. We dug a big hole with a natural waterfall. When the water plunged in, it splashed up. We went with friends. We hiked; we walked and walked and walked on and on forever. We saw a natural waterfall. We lit a fire. We roasted marshmallows. When we came home, we found out that Peace nibbled the quilt." Avi Presberg (age 6) |