Debra Hardman
So many great memories. From the first time we spoke. She cold called me to ask me to do a program for PALS. I was brand new to quilting, I really didn’t know much at all . It was February & she didn’t need me to do it until October. She had been waited on at Joann Fabrics by my sister Mel. I had made one really BAD quilt in the 70s & gave up quilting until 1991 when I decided to try again , & took an applique class in Alaska. I had made 2 small wall hangings & was working on a 3rd when she called. Mel had told her I was a quilter from Alaska.
Kathy in her very persuasive way said all I had to do was talk about Alaska, & show some quilts. Of course I said yes, & thank God I did.
She became a best friend & a sister. We’ve had so many great adventures together. She gave me an Easter egg that changed both of our lives. She had dyed it with onion skins. It made me wonder if I could dye fabric with onion skins, so I tried it. When I showed her she pulled out a little pamphlet printed back in the 1930s that talked about dyeing with plants. Her egg & my curiosity lit a wild fire in her & it took off. For the next 2 years we picked plants & dyed fabric, first cotton then wool. I moved back to Alaska, but invited her to come visit which she & John did.
We’ve had the best times with our adventures together. I still see her laughing so hard she couldn’t talk, telling the tail of how bad she was at dog sitting.
Trekking together to collect fossils, sewing fabric to the graveyard gates in my neighborhood, hand stitching on the ground in the autumn sun in Denali Park while Warren took John up Igloo mountain to see the Dahl Sheep. Camping & traveling . She taught me so much about living life to the fullest. She was like the Sun & I’m so grateful to have been one of her satellites. I will miss my little sister.